Aftershocks
by bnomiko
Summary: Yami is injured in an earthquake, which in turn shakes Seto up badly. Can anyone get through to Seto before he destroys his relationship with Yami in the confusion afterwards? ShonenAi. Prideshipping [SKYY SetoYami].
1. Ch 1: Just Another Day

Pairing: Seto + Yami  
Warnings: swearing  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.

**This is a SHONEN-AI fic (male + male romantic relationship). If you are offended by homosexual relationships, please do not read this. Flames will be disregarded.**

Setup for this fic:   
- Part of the Kai-baby / Yami-kins AU. Takes place about three months after "Games That People Play" (so it's early October).  
- Noa has been brought out of the virtual world, has a new body, and is living with Mokuba and Seto. The how and why isn't important.  
- Yami has his own body and is separate from Yugi. The how and why isn't important.  
- "Bakura" throughout this story refers to Ryou Bakura, the hikari, and "Malik" refers to Malik Ishtar, the hikari.  
- Ages of characters: Seto and Yami are 19, Noa and Mokuba are 14.

**

* * *

**

**Ch. 1: Just Another Day**

* * *

"Yeah, well… we'll probably fly back over when the holidays hit. Maybe I can convince Seto to take another week off. Uh huh… what!? Duct tape? No, I don't think that would be… yeah, it would stick to his skin!" Yami chuckled into the wireless headset as he finished mixing the marinade for the thin slices of beef round steak he was preparing for dinner.

"Valon, no! You do know they make bondage tape for that purpose, right? Mm… mmm hmm. Well, I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's better than duct tape! How many rolls? Two I think… not that we ever tried it. Yeah, just two. Rafael? Probably three. What do you mean how often do I get taped down to the sofa? Oh, wait… what time is it? I have to go pick up the boys. Of course I do! Well, Noa hasn't been feeling well. He's been home sick the last two days and… Uh, NO, they're not my kids." Yami paused to glare down at the phone at his hip, as if that would shut Valon up.

"Yeah. No, I can't. Because Seto would kill me if I dented my car. Didn't I tell you about my so-called accident? Well, I'll tell you about it next time… just remind me. Anyhow, thanks for keeping me up-to-date on the kitchen remodel. Nah, Seto doesn't care about that. Uh huh. Only my opinion counts! Hahaha… okay, I'll talk to you later!"

With an amused shake of his head, the crimson-eyed teen ended the call, then quickly surveyed the kitchen. The marinating meat went in the fridge and the countertop got a quick wipe down. Satisfied with his clean up job, Yami grabbed a black denim jacket and his car keys, then headed out to the garage.

* * *

The entire class shifted nervously in their seats as Mr. Nakamura began explaining their assignment. "This project will encourage all of you to expand your perception of abstract terms. Now, I've had each of you randomly draw two pieces of paper, so you may go ahead and open them at this time."

Mokuba picked up the two squares of paper on his desk, unfolding the first to reveal the word "magnanimous." The second piece of paper had "banal" written on it. _Oh friggin' yay._ Seeing as the rest of his classmates were comparing words with one another, Mokuba turned to his brother and whispered, "Hey, Onii-chan… what did you get?"

Noa coughed a little, resting his chin on his hand. "'Insular' and 'fortuitous.'"

Mr. Nakamura raised his voice over the din of the students. "Class! Let's continue, please. And no trading words, Miss Sato, Mr. Watanabe, as I'll be marking down the words each student has been assigned. Now then, your assignment will be to chose one of the words you have drawn, and by using both concrete and nonconcrete examples, to define what the chosen word means to you." The teacher put up a well-worn piece of poster board on the lip of the blackboard. "This is an example of a past student's work from one of my regular English classes. It goes without saying that I expect better of my honors students."

The display had what appeared to be a dried-out rose glued in one corner, pictures of various models and celebrities, and a sheet of song lyrics stapled to the other corner, along with a CD in a case.

"This student's assigned word was 'beautiful.' This… is subpar work, however it gives you an idea of what I'm looking for. You may use pictures, music, literary examples, your own words, actual objects, a live demonstration… almost anything goes. However, you will be required to give a five to ten minute presentation in front of the class in three weeks' time." A round of groans accompanied that announcement.

The teacher just frowned and adjusted his glasses. "All right, that will be all. Any questions, feel free to email me or approach me before or after class. I will now call each of you up one by one so that I may make note of the words you've drawn."

Five minutes later, the bell finally rang and the students got up and streamed out of the classroom. Mokuba packed up his messenger bag and waited for the teacher to leave the room before starting up his rant. "Man, why does Nakamura think that we're college or something? I don't even know what 'banal' means!"

"Because young Mr. Kaiba, you're in my honors class for a reason, blah blah…" Noa hoarsely answered in his best approximation of their teacher's voice. He finished packing up his things before looking up at his brother. "_So_ not looking forward to that make up test for geology today."

"At least Kimura is letting you take a make up test. But you really should have stayed home today."

Noa scrubbed at his face. "What, and make Yami sick too?"

"Okay, so the three types of plate boundaries are?"

"Convergent, divergent and… uh… shit! I mean, shoot." Noa stood up slowly.

"Transform." Noa gave his younger brother a weird look. "Hey, I've been staring at your flash cards a lot the last few days, okay?" Mokuba held his hand out for Noa's bag, then began herding the green-haired teen out the door.

"Yeah, I know. Believe me, I don't want to take the test today. But I don't have much of a choice."

"If you had stayed home one more day…"

"Nah. Seto was already having enough of a cow." He paused to cough again. "I'm fine. And I know this stuff. Just… physically tired."

Mokuba made a sound of disapproval, but didn't argue back. Noa could be just as stubborn as Seto sometimes. But at least he could do his Onii-chan the favor of walking him to the science wing of the school.

"So which word are you going to do your assignment on?" Mokuba asked as they headed up the stairs. "I think I'm stuck with magnanimous, cause banal sounds… sexual."

Noa frowned. "It means commonplace; ordinary, not… the word you're rhyming it to. But I'll do fortuitous I guess. I can just bring Yami in and make him draw playing cards for ten minutes. Cause even if there's only four aces in a deck, he somehow can find five."

Mokuba snickered. "That has nothing to do with luck or coincidence. That's just… just…" He waved his hands, trying to think of an explanation for it.

"The heart of the cards?" Noa managed a weak grin.

Mokuba snorted in disbelief as they reached Ms. Kimura's classroom. "I'll buy that explanation for Duel Monsters, but for a regular deck of playing cards?"

"Maybe the aces like him. Face cards too." Noa took his book bag back. "Thanks."

"Mm." After reminding his brother to call as soon as he was done, the black-haired teen headed out to the school's parking lot, where the white Porsche should have been waiting. But it looked like Yami was running a bit late again, which probably meant that Valon had called once again and wouldn't take the hint to hang up.

It had taken a lot of cajoling to convince Seto that public high school was a viable option since Mokuba and Noa had been attending private schools up to that point. But the younger Kaibas had wanted to do something a bit different, and Yami was agreeable with whatever they wanted, so it became three against one, and Seto gave in reluctantly. Of course, if the young CEO had been given his druthers, he would have encouraged his younger brothers to skip a few grades or perhaps even go straight to college, especially in Noa's case. Not that the shift to public school had been easy, given the fact that Seto was still a public figure despite his "retirement" from tournament dueling. In the first day at school alone, Noa and Mokuba had been asked more than two dozen times about Seto's sexual orientation, or as one punk had pleasantly phrased it, "So your faggy wuss of a brother likes it up the ass, huh?" At least Jou's sister Shizuka, who was now a fairly popular senior at Domino High, had kept most of the upperclassmen off their backs. And most of the other students shut up when Seto unexpectedly tore into the parking lot at the end of the third day, eager to show off his brand new baby blue Koenigsegg CCR.

Mokuba shook his head and smiled at the memory, remembering how Seto had circled his car like a rabid guard dog to keep all the curious teens at bay, his infamous temper impressing even the jerk who had insulted Seto on that first day. Yami had been amused as well, especially since he had the task of informing the two younger teens that they had to ride in the Mercedes with Isono, since the sportscar only sat two. Speaking of sportscars…

"Sorry I'm late. Blame Valon for it," Yami said loudly through the open window as he unlocked the car door. "Where's Noa?"

"He's taking a make up test for his geology class." Mokuba threw his book bag into the back seat, then plopped himself in the front passenger's seat.

"Poor kid. Is he doing okay? Should we wait for him?"

"He was coughing and looks like crap, but he says he's fine." The black-haired teen rolled his eyes. "He didn't know how long the test would run, so he said he'd call as soon as he finished. Boy… I really do miss summer." He sighed and looked out the window at the school.

Yami chuckled and adjusted his sunglasses a bit before steering the Porsche away from the curb. "Well, it definitely was interesting, I'll give you that much."

"Interesting" was a bit of an understatement, considering they had gone through everything from Seto and Yami's one year anniversary to the unexpected purchase of a vacation home in California. And now Jou and Mai were going steady, as were Yugi and Anzu, and Valon, who was _like this_ with Yami, was calling four or five times a week with everything from updates on the new bathroom fixtures to rumors and gossip about various up-and-coming duelists on the tournament circuits.

"So, where are we going?" Mokuba asked once he was done with his musings.

"I thought we could stop by that Chinese bakery again. Noa and Seto were fighting over the last piece of that coffee roll we bought last time."

"Eh, sure, why not?"

* * *

At the Dohi Bakery, Yami and Mokuba ordered two coffee rolls, a chocolate roll, and then decided to go for a half dozen assorted individual-sized pastries on top of that. Mokuba couldn't help but grin… Yami had such a sweet tooth. He truly was the proverbial kid in the candy store.

The elderly lady behind the counter packaged everything up in two pink boxes, tying them up with string. Yami handed them both to Mokuba while he fished out his wallet, and then just as he began pulling it out, there was a rumbling sound and a moment later, the ground began shuddering beneath their feet as if they were standing on a trembling mound of gelatin.

Yami, Mokuba, another customer, and the woman at the counter all turned towards the storefront window to see if a passing truck were the culprit, but there was no truck, and the items on display in the window continued to rattle against the glass.

"Huh, earthquake," Mokuba said calmly. It was a common enough occurrence in Domino.

Yami looked over at the younger teen as the shaking seemed to die down, then became very alarmed as the earth suddenly heaved violently beneath them. Instinctively, the ex-spirit grabbed onto Mokuba as they were both pitched to the ground, doing his best to break both their falls. Mokuba grunted in surprise as he fell on his side with Yami landing on top.

"Don't move," Yami warned in a low voice, his slender frame shielding the younger teen as tiny bits of plaster and wood shook loose from the ceiling and fell.

Mokuba coughed from the sudden influx of dust in the air and looked up at his brother's lover with wide eyes. Yami just looked back at him with determination, his jaw set. _It'll be okay,_ his crimson eyes seemed to say.

Mokuba was suddenly frightened; he could hear an ominous groaning coming from the walls of the building and the two women in the store crying out in alarm, and then it was as if the entire world exploded around them. Before he could even find the breath to scream, the walls and ceiling gave way. Mokuba's eyes snapped shut… and then he heard Yami gasp, felt him collapse like dead weight on top of him, and everything went black.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- Sorry if this was a slow chapter. I had to get everything set up :) But I did leave an evil cliffhanger (waits for hate mail). Just to make sure everyone understands… 1) This is NOT a deathfic! and 2) I promise, the ending of this will be worth the ride.  
- It was completely unintentional, my having Mokuba ask Noa the question about plate tectonics and boundaries. But after I wrote it, I thought it was a nice bit of foreshadowing, so I left it in.  
- If I went by canon, I think Shizuka should only be a junior at this point (and wouldn't be living in Domino anyways), but I like manipulating ages, so I've decided that she's a year older in my AU.  
- I've been through at least a dozen quakes, all relatively small IMO. I have a very low sensitivity to them however, so I usually am unable to feel a quake unless it's big enough to cause some very minor damage. The sensation is damn hard to describe, so I hope I did okay.


	2. Ch 2: Shaken

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: The earthquake has come and gone, leaving behind chaos.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- First of all... THANKS to everyone who reviewed... I feel so loved! Please keep it up... I definitely want to know what people think of my plot twists and I really hope it doesn't get too confusing!  
- Re: Bondage tape (dragonwrangler, mechante fille) - Uh... hahahahahaha! I have no comment:)  
- Re: Stepshipping? (Pysche) - First, let me laugh at your review... it was very cute! If you ever read my LJ (which obviously you haven't LOL) you'd know that I've been teetering on the Noa + Mokie issue. I didn't originally intend for there to be a pairing there, but hints of it crept in anyways since I like the pairing. Okay, yes, they are cute together. And at least if they were paired there'd definitely be no security or financial issues to worry about (i.e. no gold digging). BUT on the other hand... what would Seto really think? Wouldn't he be absolutely freaked out even though Noa is biologically unrelated to Mokuba? Would he consider it a breach of trust? Would he think he "went wrong" somewhere as a father figure? Would he worry about the ramifications should such a relationship become public knowledge? So the official answer is, I'm still undecided. But the hints will still be there (and the way I have this story planned, they're going to be even stronger as this fic progresses).

* * *

**Aftershocks**

**Ch. 2: Shaken**

* * *

Seto was in the middle of a meeting with a handful of conceptual designers and engineers for the newest KaibaLand theme park under development when the earthquake hit. The entire building began swaying and a large unsecured standalone dry erase board, already poorly balanced, suddenly fell over, startling a few of the people in the room.

"An earthquake?!" one man gasped, jumping to his feet. Others sounded their concern as well.

"This building is built to withstand a magnitude 8.5 on the Richter scale," Seto announced to the people in the conference room even as he folded his long legs and got under the heavy mahogany conference table. "But I suggest instead of running around in pointless panic, you all find a spot under this table."

The employees were quick to follow his example, grateful for their boss' composure under duress, but in actuality, the young CEO was far from calm. In the back of his mind, he had felt a slight prickling of surprise the moment the quake hit, and now there was fear mixed in as well. _Yami?_ he called out tentatively over their mind link, but the only response was a sudden sharp explosion of pain and then… nothing.

* * *

Noa frowned at his cellphone, then tried dialing Mokuba's number again. After the quake hit, Ms. Kimura had decided to call off the rest of the make up test session just in case of severe aftershocks, and agreed that Noa's grade on the test would be based only on the questions he had managed to get to. But she did insist that he stay inside the classroom until someone arrived to pick him, especially since he was still sick.

_Why aren't they picking up?_ Noa wondered, staring at the phone. He had already tried calling Yami and Mokuba twice each, plus the house, and nothing. But just as he went to put the phone away, the ringtone suddenly began playing, and Seto's name flashed across the screen.

The green-haired teen picked up quickly. "Seto?"

"Noa." He sounded relieved. "Where are you guys?"

"I'm at school… I had a test to make up. Yami came and picked up Mokuba a half hour ago, and then the quake hit." Noa paused to cough, giving Seto a moment to respond, but all he heard was the quickening of his brother's breaths. "Nii-sama?"

"They're… have you tried calling them? Calling the house?" There was the barest hint of panic in the brunette's voice.

Noa felt a cold chill run up his spine. Seto wasn't one to ever panic over anything, so to hear even the faintest trace of anxiety in his voice… "Yeah. Twice. Se…"

"I can't feel Yami anymore," Seto stated bluntly. "And I can't get either of them to pick up."

The green-haired teen sucked in a breath. _No…_

"I'm coming to get you right now." Noa could hear the sound of Seto's feet moving across a hard surface, and the soft buzz of conversation and other noise floating in the background. "I'll call you as soon as I'm there. In the meantime, if you hear from either one of them, call me _right away_."

"O… okay. Seto… be careful."

There was only a soft grunt, then Seto hung up.

* * *

As soon as the young billionaire ended his call with Noa, he began calling everyone else he could think of. He told Isono to inform him if Yami and Mokuba showed up at the mansion. He asked Yugi if he could mind link Yami, and when the shorter duelist informed him that he was about to call Seto and ask him the exact same thing, the brunette asked him to call the rest of Yugi-tachi and to tell them that if _anyone_ saw or heard from Yami, they were to call him immediately. As an afterthought, he also called Ms. Nozaka and told her he wouldn't be coming back to the office that afternoon and to send out a company-wide email instructing employees to go home if they wished to.

_I'll kill him for making me worry, _Seto seethed as he pushed his car to take a turn far faster than it should have. _I'll kill him if anything happened to Mokuba. _He kept mentally casting for Yami. Still nothing. Even if his lover closed off the link Seto should have been able to sense him, but it was as if there was nothing there _to_ sense.

Gritting his teeth, Seto forced his foot down on the gas and cut across two lanes to whip into the short drive leading to Domino High.

* * *

Mokuba slowly came to and for a moment, he couldn't recall what happened. His head hurt a lot, he felt bruised, and there was something heavy lying on top of him. He took an unsteady breath, then coughed violently as the particulates in the air clung to his dry throat. That brought the memories back up to the surface… the earthquake, the rain of debris from the ceiling, Yami throwing himself on top of him as they fell to the ground, that look of steely determination in his eyes. And then…

"Yami?" Mokuba whispered, suddenly afraid of what the warm weight on his chest was. "Yami?!" He finally opened his eyes to see strands of tri-colored hair, brilliant even in light filtered through the dusty haze, just inches from his face.

"YAMI!" No response at all, and Mokuba suddenly felt the need to throw up, but then logic kicked in. _He feels warm. _He slowly twisted one hand up to pull away the fabric of Yami's jacket sleeve so that he could place his shaking fingers against skin. _Yes, still warm… he's alive. _Relieved, Mokuba shut his eyes and tried to concentrate on finding a pulse. _There it is. And I just felt him exhale. Thank God!!_

Mokuba opened his eyes again and tried to take a look around at their surroundings. Since Yami was out cold, it would be up to him to try and get help. It looked like the old bakery had completely collapsed around them, though at least they weren't buried by the debris. Light trickled in from a large opening where the front window used to be, though the frame had been crunched down to half its original size. Of greatest concern was the large broken portion of ceiling which loomed above their heads. A single fallen support beam looked to be the only thing holding the ceiling up. And there was no sign of the two women who had been in the shop with them.

_Okay, gotta stay calm… what would Seto do in this situation? We've got to get out of here; if an aftershock hits, that ceiling's going to come down. But I don't know what happened to Yami… I hope he's not badly hurt, or else if I move him… Argh! Think, think! _Mokuba's hand began creeping down to his phone. _Please let this work…_ He shifted his hip painfully to pull his cellphone out of the holster, only to discover it was broken. _CRAP! _A quick check on the phone at Yami's hip came back with a similar result.

Seeing little other option, the younger teen wriggled out from under Yami's body, aggravating all sorts of bruises in the process, then slowly rose to his feet, the world suddenly spinning wildly around him. Very cautiously, he picked his way over the debris on the cracked tile floor, following the light and the sound of approaching sirens.

"Hey, is there anyone in there?" a voice called out.

Mokuba felt tears of relief welling up in his eyes. Feeling his legs buckling, he dropped to his knees and yelled back, "Help!!!" as soon as he found his voice again.

A fireman cautiously stuck his head under the opening and spotted the disheveled black-haired teen. "Stay right there, okay kid?… Hey, I found someone over here!"

Mokuba nodded at the man who had already taken off to get more help, then glanced back at Yami lying still on the ground. He swore the room was beginning to tilt, then everything went black again.

* * *

Noa began running towards the parking lot as soon as his phone started ringing. Ignoring the burning in his throat, he picked up the call without slowing down, told his big brother that he was already on his way out, and didn't stop running until he reached the Viper parked at the curb, the passenger side door already open.

"Get in," Seto said tightly, and without even waiting for his brother to shut the door all the way, he hit the gas, threw the car in gear, and took off. Noa gave the door a hard tug, then fumbled with his seatbelt before looking over at his brother. The brunette was pale, his hands wrapped so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles threatened to tear right out of his skin, his breathing as erratic as his driving. And speaking of erratic driving…

"My God, Seto! That was a red light!" Noa yelled, his fingers digging into the handholds on the door. "Seto?! Where in the world are we going?"

"I'm dropping you off at home, then I'm going out to look for them." The CEO tensed up even more as an ambulance raced past them on the other side of the street.

"NO… no way! I'm coming with you!"

"Noa, you'll just get in the way…"

The green-haired teen scowled. "I will NOT! How can you expect me to go sit at home when the rest of my _FAMILY_ is out there, missing!?" he yelled hoarsely. His head was starting to hurt.

Seto glanced over at his brother, a little surprised. He had never put much thought into what their living arrangement could be classified as, but he supposed "family" wasn't too far off. "Fine… so where do you suggest we start looking?" he asked, though he really didn't expect an answer.

Noa thought about it for a moment, then began fishing his laptop out of his bag. "Don't you have trackers on all the cars?"

"… shit! Yes! Why the fuck didn't I remember that?" The blue sportscar swerved over to the curb so quickly that Noa was thrown against the window, managing to keep a hold on his computer only through sheer luck.

"Nii-sama!" Noa complained, rubbing a sore shoulder.

"Start searching. I'm not going to drive around in circles and end up heading in the wrong direction if I can help it."

The younger teen gave a curt nod of understanding, and booted up his laptop.

* * *

Noa managed to track down the whereabouts of Yami's Porsche in only a few minutes and fed directions to Seto as the Viper raced through the streets of Domino. Traffic was far worse than usual, and they were forced to take a detour due to a sinkhole which had appeared in the middle of Hillcrest Road. They finally got to the block the car was parked on, but the area was blocked off by police barricades since an entire row of old storefronts had collapsed. Seto parked in a nearby lot, told Noa to stay put, then ran back to try and hop the wooden barrier, but a grizzled old cop stopped him as soon as his feet hit the ground.

"Nice try, kid. Get your butt back over that barricade! These old buildings are liable to completely collapse if an aftershock hits!"

Seto fought his natural inclination to simply punch the guy, and craned his neck to see if he could spot the Porsche while explaining, "My brother and boyfriend might be in one of those stores!"

The officer's eyebrows went up a little. "We have the fire department going through the buildings right now. They've already found several survivors and sent them to Hillside General Hospital."

"Survivors? Hospital?" Seto parroted, his eyes widening as soon as he spotted the familiar white convertible at the far end of the block. It seemed undamaged, but it also didn't look like there was anyone inside. The young billionaire took a step forward to try and get a better look at it, and the officer grabbed his arm and pulled back hard.

"Did you NOT hear what I said? You can't go any further! If your brother and friend…"

"Do you know what any of the survivors looked like? My brother's 14, long black hair, and my boyfriend has this fucking crazy spiky hair in three colors… you can't possibly miss it."

The cop gave him a thoughtful look. "I don't know about your brother, but I think I saw a kid that fits the description of your friend. And he was taken away in an ambulance about 10, 15 minutes ago."

* * *

Noa sat in the car and chewed his thumbnail nervously while keeping an eye on the rearview mirror for any sign of Seto. He was sorely tempted to defy his brother and chase after him, but he knew that Seto would be beyond livid if he did that; he was already stressed to the gills as it was. So nail biting would have to suffice as a distraction for the time being, even if it didn't help with the headache he had.

A sudden aftershock sent the car rocking for a few tense moments, but passed without doing much damage to the immediate area, though Noa swore that his heart stopped beating for several seconds.

Seto came running back a few minutes later looking much worse than when he had left. There was a rip in the sleeve of his blazer and dirt caked on his pants. Noa gaped at his brother, who obviously hadn't fared as well as he had in the aftershock.

"You okay?" the brunette asked as soon as he opened the door, flinging himself into the driver's seat.

"Uh… yeah. What about y..."

Seto started up the car. "We're going to Hillside General Hospital. Get me directions. Then get on the phone and call Yugi with the address and tell him to meet us there."

* * *

A little over an hour later, Yugi and Sugoroku quietly stepped into the large private hospital suite that housed both Yami and Mokuba. From what Noa had told them during their most recent phone call, both teens had been admitted with concussions, but while Mokuba had come to in the ambulance, Yami had remained unconscious.

The two younger Kaibas looked up at the arrival of the Mutous, but Seto, who was sitting at Yami's bedside, didn't react at all. His eyes were closed and sweat trickled down his forehead while he slowly stroked a crimson-tipped spike of his boyfriend's hair.

"Hey Yugi," Noa said tiredly before dropping his head back down onto the mattress next to Mokuba's shoulder. Mokuba just lifted his hand off the mattress an inch in greeting.

Yugi looked over at his darker half again, then paused by Mokuba's bed for a moment. "How are you doing?"

"Shitty, but alive," Mokuba whispered. "Go on… go see Yami."

Yugi gave the black-haired teen a slight smile, then grabbed a pair of chairs and pulled them over to Yami's bedside across from Seto. Still no reaction from the brunette. Worried, Yugi softly called out, "Kaiba?"

"He won't answer. He's been trying to mind link Yami pretty much since we in got here and got settled," Noa explained.

Yugi couldn't help but try accessing his own link to Yami, but just as with all his previous attempts, there was nothing there to latch on to. It was like trying to gain a handhold on a wall of glass.

Sugoroku frowned. "Has a doctor stopped by yet? Have they given out a diagnosis?"

"Mm, yeah." The green-haired teen paused to clear his throat. "Concussion of course, contusions and a few minor lacerations, and probably a fractured right leg, though they haven't x-rayed him yet. Mokuba's the same to a much lesser degree, minus the leg."

"I'd probably have a broken leg too, or worse, if Yami… hadn't thrown himself over me, shielding me," Mokuba added quietly, turning his head slightly towards his brother.

_Yeah, that's something Yami would do all right,_ Yugi thought to himself as he reached out to hold Yami's hand. But as soon as he made contact he jerked away and jumped to his feet, because Seto had suddenly lunged halfway across the bed with a feral snarl and a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Jesus!" Yugi yelped, suddenly concerned for his jii-chan's safety as well as his own. The violet-eyed teen could feel his heart pounding in triple time from the shock. And Seto was still glaring at him with unnaturally cold eyes, hovering protectively over Yami's body.

"Seto, stop it!" Noa yelled, rushing to Yugi's side.

"Nii-sama!" Mokuba cried out, adding his voice to the chaos.

The brunette blinked once at Mokuba, clarity returning to his eyes, then slowly sank back into his seat. He lifted a shaky hand to his temples, then looked over Yugi and Sugoroku. "Sorry," he muttered, curling up miserably in his chair. He turned his attention back to Yami and began stroking his lover's hair again.

_Yami… wake up…_

Long minutes passed, though Seto was unaware of the passage of time. And he didn't hear Sugoroku and Yugi offering to take Noa home since he was still sick, nor Yugi's assurance that he would come back the next morning during visiting hours, since Seto was obviously planning to be the one to maintain vigil over Yami and Mokuba that night. Seto didn't hear any of it, because his entire mind was focused on only one thing.

_Please wake up._

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- Since I know many readers have not been through quakes before, I just wanted to note that just because the earthquake in this story was powerful enough to collapse a few buildings doesn't mean that everything goes to hell. Unlike in movies, the ground does not open up and swallow cars and then mash them flat, and everything doesn't just fall over in one huge catastrophic moment, end of story. A lot of earthquake damage isn't directly caused by the main quake itself, but rather by aftershocks (which shake up what's already loose) and things like broken gas lines, broken electrical conduits, fires, etc. I would guesstimate this quake at a 6.8 perhaps, though I'll probably never give an actual number in the body of the fic. That's strong enough to put cracks in walls and pavement, knock items off shelves, and severely damage buildings which are not up to code or which are too close to the epicenter.


	3. Ch 3: Pieces of the Puzzle

Spoilers: vague and non-spoiling reference to Pharaoh's Memory / Ancient Egypt arc  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Flashbacks of Egypt complicate the situation.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Re: Where were Yami and Mokuba? (yamis-mistress) - They were in the bakery from chapter 1 (but I went back and added the word "bakery" somewhere in ch. 2 so that other readers won't have the same problem).  
- Re: The differences between Noa and Mokuba (Desidera, Nenya85) - Um... LOL. It's almost unintentional (on my part) the way Seto differentiates between Mokuba and Noa, though of course Mokuba would always be his first concern and I think that's always in the back of my mind when I write. My only conscious decision to that end was to make sure that Mokuba was the one in danger, not Noa. In a similar vein, I purposely try to have both boys call Seto "Nii-sama" as well as "Seto," but now that you pointed it out Nenya, I think I default to Seto for Noa and Nii-sama for Mokuba without realizing it. Honestly, I'm ashamed to admit I don't really even think about it. I really should put more thought into these things!

* * *

****

Aftershocks

Ch. 3: Pieces of the Puzzle

* * *

_The corridor seemed endless, but felt oddly familiar despite the fact that Seto swore he had never seen it or been in it before. His legs ached as if he had been running forever, the soles of his slippers slapping hard against the stone, but something told him he couldn't stop. He had to make it into the inner chamber before… before…_

_With a sudden burst of speed that he wasn't aware that he was capable of, he flew down the final set of stairs and ran into the dimly lit chamber. On the ceremonial platform before him stood the young Pharaoh, the Sennen Puzzle glinting in his hands as his lips chanted an incantation, his eyes shut tightly in concentration. _

_He opened his mouth to say something, anything, and was promptly restrained by a pair of burly guards. Other figures moved in the darkness, some converging on him, others approaching the spiky-haired figure praying fervently over the sacred golden relic._

_Enraged, he fought like a man possessed. He used his shoulder to ram a guard holding onto this right arm, then swung his fist into the face of another, freeing both hands. Several more guards emerged from the darkness, some armed with spears. Searching frantically for the Sennen Rod he had secured at the back of his belt, he clenched his left hand into a fist as well and managed to knock another man aside. But just as his fingers wrapped around the Rod, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and the Rod fell from his loose grip and clattered to the ground. Surprised, he turned to see blood trickling down his arm. One of those damn bastards had taken a spear to him!_

_He knew he didn't have time to fight, but there was little choice. He had to get to the Pharaoh, had to stop him from completing the incantation, or else…_

_Seto refused to consider what failure would mean. He tried to wrest a spear away from one of the guardsmen, but another one got in a quick stab, the blade nicking his thigh, while a third got behind him and kicked him on the back of his knee joint, forcing him to fall awkwardly to his knees. Two more men joined the fray to help restrain his arms and a man who appeared to be an officer of sorts pressed a dagger to his throat, forcing him to still his struggles._

_Helpless, he lifted his chin and watched the horrific scene unfolding in the center of the room. The Pharaoh was swaying in place now, shuddering slightly as some sort of smoke or mist escaped from his mouth in wisps, curling in the air before entwining around the now glowing Puzzle. Seto didn't want to watch… he understood what he was seeing, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the teen's face. That familiar arrangement of tri-colored spikes waved above bronzed skin which was damp with sweat and taut with pain. Seto gritted his teeth in frustration, biting down with such ferocity that he swore he could hear his teeth cracking, but it was nothing compared to the suffering the young Pharaoh had to be enduring. He was coughing up blood now, bright scarlet speckling his lips and staining even the pristine surface of the Puzzle itself._

_Seto felt his mouth open and he uttered something which he himself could not make out clearly, but apparently his words had been enough to reach the trembling figure on the dais._

_The Pharaoh's eyes slowly opened, and he looked directly at Seto, fondness, tenderness, and something else, which made Seto's heart leap into his throat, momentarily overtaking the pain and fear that had washed over the crimson orbs. The Pharaoh's lips stopped moving for a second, and it looked like he wanted to say something else, but then a small robed figure close to him made a silent command and he shut his eyes again, his mouth forming the final word._

_Seto screamed silently as the Pharaoh took one last convulsive breath, his mouth widening in a silent scream, as several wisps of red-tinged smoke rose from his lips. The Puzzle blazed so brilliantly from that final influx that the entire chamber was awash with light, then the Pharaoh collapsed backwards as the bloodstained relic slipped from his limp fingers, falling to the ground to shatter like glass._

* * *

Seto jerked awake, barely holding in the scream that threatened to spill forth, and nearly fell out of the chair he was sitting in. _Where the fuck… hospital?_ He stared blearily at the beeping monitors and stark white walls softly glowing from fluorescent hallway lights, then his eyes trailed down to the still figure on the bed closest to him. _Yami…_

For a brief moment, images from his nightmare blurred his vision and he swore he was seeing the Pharaoh that Yami once had been lying on the hospital bed, a soulless corpse, his face twisted in a death mask of agony. Alarmed, Seto jumped up, sending his plastic chair crashing to the ground. His heart thudded so hard that he could feel the blood pounding in his ears, while his stomach began churning violently.

"Mmm…" Mokuba was awakened by the chair clattering to the ground. Slowly opening his eyes at the sound, he caught sight of his brother's pale face and horrified expression. "Nii-sama?"

The older teen didn't respond. Instead, he suddenly darted into the small bathroom in the corner of the room, his hands clamped over his mouth as his throat started burning. He didn't even have time to shut the door before he started vomiting into the toilet.

_What's happening? _he wondered even as he choked and gasped for breath between heaves. _That couldn't have been real… It was a nightmare, nothing more,_ he reasoned._ So why am I so upset?_ But in his heart, Seto knew he was lying to himself, and it physically hurt.

_He suffered so much when he died. He was so scared… And I didn't put a stop to it. I could … should have stopped him. I should have done SOMETHING, and I didn't! _His stomach lurched once again at the thought, and he unsuccessfully fought against another wave of nausea.

After feeling like he had thrown up his entire digestive tract, Seto decided he had enough of staring at the nasty toilet. He slowly rose to his feet, quickly flushed the mess, and grabbed a paper towel to wipe his mouth off with, glancing up at the small mirror on the wall. _I look like shit. Last time that I looked like this… FUCK! Fuck! Not again… _He tore his eyes away from his reflection as his stomach began twisting anew and his legs gave out underneath him. _Not again… please…_

Despite the throbbing behind his eyes, Mokuba forced himself out of his bed and after grabbing a hold of his IV stand, he shuffled over to Yami's bed to check on his condition. The spiky-haired teen was still unconscious, but his breathing and heart rate were holding steady, and he didn't seem to be in any distress. Confused, Mokuba crept to the bathroom to check on Seto. The black-haired teen hadn't seen such alarm on his big brother's face in years, but since Yami's condition appeared to be stable, he didn't understand what had upset Seto so.

He finally found Seto kneeling on the floor of the bathroom, coughing violently as he clutched at the toilet. "Nii-sama? What is it?"

The brunette turned at the sound of Mokuba's voice and shivered, his eyes watering from all the vomiting. "You shouldn't be up," he finally said in a strained voice, swallowing hard.

"I was worried about you. What happened?"

"It's nothing. Just an upset stomach." Seto stood up, flushed the toilet, walked to the sink, and began swiping at his face with handfuls of cold water.

"Seto?"

"I said it's nothing," the older teen snapped, regretting it instantly as Mokuba flinched. "I'm sorry… it's… I'm just stressed out," he explained, his voice bitter.

_What are you hiding? What happened? _ Mokuba frowned as his head began throbbing a little more insistently."Oh." He met his brother's wounded gaze momentarily, averting his eyes only because it hurt to see Seto looking so… vulnerable. "I, um… I think I should head back to bed."

"… Yeah." Seto finished drying off his hands, then walked Mokuba back to the narrow hospital bed, lifting the younger teen up onto the mattress. But before tucking him back under the sheets, he wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged him tightly.

Mokuba reciprocated, but wondered at reasons behind the sudden display of affection. "Nii-sama?"

Seto shut his eyes and pressed his cheek against Mokuba's hair. "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything, I promise." _I won't let him die again._

* * *

Yugi returned to the hospital early the next morning with a large cup of coffee and a bag of muffins, figuring that Seto would need them after what had to be a long and sleepless night. But he wasn't expecting the taller duelist to look quite THAT bad.

Seto was slouched in a plastic hospital chair between Mokuba and Yami's beds. He was still in his rumpled shirt and dirt caked pants from the day before, though that couldn't be helped. His hair was matted and sticking up in random directions, and when he looked up, Yugi could see that his skin was ashen, and he had dark circles under bloodshot eyes.

"Morning. I uh… brought you some coffee, and breakfast." The violet-eyed teen wrinkled his nose at the slight odor of stale sweat and bile hanging in the air.

"Coffee." Seto seemed too wiped out to even sneer properly at the offer of breakfast.

"I could use some breakfast," Mokuba said, opening his gray eyes to look at Yugi. "Hi."

Yugi gave the younger teen a slight smile. He had a small bruise on his cheek, but otherwise seemed to be back to his usual self. "Sorry, Mokuba. You're stuck with hospital food till they discharge you."

"Crud. I don't think the eggs they served were actually eggs, you know what I mean?"

"Mm, probably not." Yugi turned to look at Yami on his hospital bed.

Mokuba followed his gaze and frowned. "He still hasn't woken up," he said in a small voice. "I'm sorry."

Yugi sighed and tentatively reached out a hand to smooth back a lock of blonde hair. At least this time Seto didn't try to disembowel him or tear his throat out with his teeth. In fact, he showed no reaction at all, staring blankly at the opposite wall while he rapidly guzzled the coffee. "Kaiba, I can skip class and stay here with Yami and Mokuba if you want to go home and get some rest or something."

Seto swallowed a mouthful of caffeinated liquid. "… No."

"Don't take this personally, but you really look like hell. And you won't do either of them any good in your current state."

"No." Cold blue eyes glared at Yugi, but the shorter duelist refused to back down.

"Kaiba, I insist…"

"Thanks for the coffee. Now get the fuck out." Seto chucked the empty cup at Yugi's head, missing by scant millimeters.

Mokuba made a huge gasping sound. "SETO! I can't believe…" The brunette fixed his little brother with a disapproving look, then folded his arms and proceeded to stare at the floor. The younger Kaiba huffed, then said, "Yugi, you should… probably go. Please."

Yugi wavered, then finally decided to pull back for the time being. Seto was obviously lashing out from stress and lack of sleep, so there was no reason to stay and antagonize him. It wasn't like he posed any danger to Yami anyways. "All right. Just… call me if anything changes, or if he wakes up, okay?"

"Sure thing," Mokuba told Yugi. But he was looking worriedly at his brother.

* * *

In the end it wasn't Seto or Mokuba who made the call, but one of the nurses. Yugi and Anzu ended up rushing down to the hospital to find Mokuba and Seto gone and a very drowsy looking ex-spirit blinking up at them from the second bed.

"Yami," Yugi breathed, a smile spreading across his face in relief, "thank goodness you're awake!"

"Mm… Mokuba?"

Anzu gasped. "Oh my God, he thinks you're Mokuba?"

Even doped up on pain medication, Yami gathered himself together long enough to scowl at Anzu, who squeaked when she realized that she misunderstood. "Aibou. Where's… Mokuba?"

Yugi looked over his shoulder at the vacant bed. "I guess he must have been discharged. Kaiba must have taken him home."

"Mm. Nurse said… same thing. Wanted… to be sure. You okay?"

"Me?" Yugi gave a short, nervous laugh. "We're all okay. You're the one that had us worried. You took a nasty hit to the head and probably got a broken leg too. I bet Kaiba will be really relieved to see you awake and everything… he looked really stressed out this morning."

"Hm." Yami grimaced a bit. "Hurts… sure Mokuba's okay?"

Yugi and Anzu looked at each other. "I'll go get a nurse," Anzu said, walking out of the room.

Yugi pulled up a chair and took a hold of his other half's hand. "Mokuba's fine. I talked to him this morning. He said you saved his life." Thinking back to his conversation with the younger Kaiba brothers the previous afternoon, Yugi tried opening up the link between his mind and Yami's, but ended up shutting it down very quickly as the back of his head began aching, accompanied by Yami's groans of pain. "Sorry… I didn't think it would hurt you. I better warn Kaiba about that, in case he doesn't already know. He was trying to link you for hours yesterday."

Yami's head lolled against the pillow. "Mm."

"I guess I shouldn't babble so much. You look really wiped out. I'm just relieved you're awake," Yugi finished saying as Anzu returned with a nurse.

"Can you… call Seto?" Yami asked as Yugi moved aside for the nurse.

"I'm sure the hospital's already called, but sure, I'll give him a call too."

"'Kay…"

* * *

Tired of arguing with Mokuba and Noa on the subject, Seto finally agreed to take a short nap before heading back to the hospital, but it proved to be anything but restful. Once again, the lines between dream and memory became hazy…

_He stared at the commemorative tablet he had commissioned, which was finally complete and done to his satisfaction. Now all the tasks he had set for himself were finished, save the final one. With a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart, Seto held up the Sennen Rod, gazing for one last time at the faintly glowing surface, reflecting on everything that had transpired since the day the Sennen Puzzle had fragmented into a hundred pieces, shattering his own soul as well._

_It had been the hardest, longest year of his life, despite the fact that he was now Pharaoh and the country was prospering under his rule. He should have been pleased with himself, but he could not bring himself to care. Only with the knowledge that each day brought him closer to the end of his suffering had he found the strength to continue on until the completion of his self-appointed mission. Though future generations would forget the sacrifice that had been made to save Egypt, he could not forget. So the tablet would serve as his eternal proclamation of grief, acknowledging his failings as a friend and lover, elevating the man who saw beyond his betrayal and loved him regardless of that._

_As he slid out the hidden dagger from the core of the Rod, he could only hope that the gods would be merciful and grant him oblivion, for the only other thing he could wish for was impossible so long as the Puzzle remained in pieces. And he could not bear the thought of his spirit continuing on for eons alone. He had felt nothing but loneliness and misery since that fateful day, one year ago…_

_He slowly positioned the tip of the dagger against his skin between the bones of his ribcage. He would finally feel something this day._

* * *

For the second time in less than 24 hours, Seto awoke in a panic and this time, he even caught himself checking the skin on his chest for sign of injury. His hand was damp as it came away from his bare chest, however there was no blood, no wound… just sweat. But he swore he could still feel the dagger lodged in his heart.

_I killed myself because Ya… no, the Pharaoh, died? If Yami…_

He couldn't bring himself to complete the thought. Even so, an uneasy weight settled itself in his chest, and he swallowed hard, trying to dislodge it. _There's really no choice anymore, is there? Damn it! Damn it all… I wish… but…_

"At least Yami's alive… awake, even. The hospital said so," he muttered aloud to himself, turning slowly towards his cellphone as it began ringing. _The hospital…?_

Seto's hand shook as he picked up the phone. Out of habit, he glanced down and saw an unfamiliar number flashing on the screen. That certainly did nothing to ease his nerves.

After another moment's hesitation, he finally took the call. "… Kaiba."

"Hi, it's Yugi. Yami asked me to give you a call."

"I see..." Seto could feel his pulse starting to slow back down.

"Um… so… are you going to come down to see him today?"

A quick glance at the clock. There was only about an hour left before visiting hours were over. It would work as an excuse. "I can't… I mean, not today. There's only an hour left."

"Oh." There was a pause and Seto could hear muffled voices in the background. "Is Mokuba there? Yami's still worried about him."

The brunette bit his lip. _It's… for the best… _"Yeah, but… he's resting." It was only a partial lie.

"I see." More whispering. "So when will you be coming by tomorrow?"

Seto stared at the phone for several seconds, then ended the call without giving an answer.

* * *

In the hospital, it took Yugi all his self-control to not show his dismay at the way Seto handled the phone call. _Why didn't he respond? It wasn't a hard question…_

"Aibou?"

Startled, Yugi quickly mumbled, "Okay, thanks," into the mouthpiece, then set the phone back down on the little ledge by Yami's bed. Putting on what he hoped was a convincing smile, he told Yami, "He said he'll come by tomorrow. Mokuba's resting and he wants to keep an eye on him."

Not expecting that response, Yami's clouded crimson eyes searched Yugi's face for any sign of deception. "Tomorrow?"

"Mm hmm." He felt like crap, having to lie like that, but Yami seemed desperate for reassurance, and he didn't want to make him worry and possibly get worse. But now Anzu was looking at him suspiciously as well.

The ex-spirit frowned slightly, his fingers tightening a bit on the sheet over his body. Something was wrong, he could feel it, but he couldn't imagine why Yugi would lie about something like that. "You'll… come back too?"

"Of course I will."

"Tomorrow." Yami exhaled tiredly. "Okay."

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:  
- (Dons protective helmet) I know I'm going to hear a lot of: 1) Wah! You're being mean to poor Yami! or 2) Wah! Why is Seto being an asshat to poor Yami! or 3) Wah! Why are you such an asshat! But… I can only answer number 3, and that's… just because.  
- I had an incredibly hard time with the Seto / Seth flashback scenes. Can we all say, "Haven't seen AE, huh?" A-yup. But it doesn't matter, cause this is AU anyways so whatever I want can happen and will happen, though I did very quickly take a look at Japanese manga scans of AE and Ceremonial Battle to set up the first scene. I did figure out after the fact that Seth wouldn't have hung the Rod by his belt (he always carries it in his hand) but I needed to make sure that Seto couldn't use it, so I left it as is. And I hope I wasn't being overly dramatic with the second scene.   
- Hmm… I'm wondering how many people will figure out what's really going on in Seto's head. There's multiple issues to deal with here, so it's not actually as obvious as it seems, at least, I don't think it is.


	4. Ch 4: The Road to Recovery

Spoilers: none  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Yami struggles to recover from his injuries at the hospital.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- First off, glad people enjoyed the flashbacks and if you think Seto's an asshole now, I wonder what you'll all think of him as the story progresses.  
- Re: Guesses as to Seto's mindset (Nenya, Pye, Darleneartist, Desidera) - Nenya: Damn you, get out of my head! LOL - you scare me with how well you can read into characters. I'm almost hiding bits of information on purpose now just so you don't figure out this whole mess by the next chapter. So if y'all want to know where this is headed, just go read Nenya's review and if not, don't look! Desi: Not a bad guess, but not correct either... but thanks for playing! Darlene: Funny that that's what you picked up from the previous chapter, because that was actually the mindset I was originally going for (before I actually started writing the story). Then I changed my mind. But I guess a bit of my original idea has seeped through to the actual story. Pye: I'm mean, so I'm letting you know that all your guesses were wrong. But the werewolf one was close... okay, not really :D. OH... and 'cause 'cause 'cause! Happy?  
- Re: Slave sequel (mechante fille) - Umm... _(runs away)_. I've sorta... decided not to write it. I just don't feel it, you know? But I hope my Halloween fic will make up for my not writing the sequel... I hope.

* * *

****

Aftershocks

Ch. 4: The Road to Recovery

* * *

_(Three days later…)_

Bored, drugged and alone, Yami had resigned himself to taking yet another nap when he thought he heard the sound of multiple footsteps at the threshold of his room. Forcing his eyes open, he turned his head in the faint hope that Seto had finally stopped by for a visit. But least it wasn't a nurse this time.

He managed a weak grin as he spotted the two familiar figures hovering in the doorway. "Mokuba, Noa."

Mokuba ran straight to the bed and threw his arm across Yami's chest in a semblance of a hug. "Hey Yami! Sorry it took us so long to come and visit."

Yami slowly put a hand on the younger teen's head, then let it drift down past the bruise on Mokuba's cheek. "It's okay… I'm glad to see you. I was worried." Mokuba flushed a little.

"We were worried about you too," Noa added. "We would have come down sooner, but…"

Another set of footsteps approached the room, and Yami's head snapped up. "Baby!"

"Um… sorry, Yami." Jou walked in, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Oh…" The spiky-haired teen couldn't help but be a bit disappointed.

"The boys needed someone to drive 'em, so that someone was me. How you doin'?"

Yami frowned a little. _Why did they need Jou to drive? Where's Isono? Where's Seto? Why hasn't Seto been picking up his phone? _ "Um, well… better than yesterday," he said haltingly, his mind still on his missing boyfriend.

Noa stared at Yami. "Why, what happened yesterday?"

"Surgery. They put a something… in my leg, 'cause I broke both the… ummm…" He couldn't quite recall what they had done, and the medication certainly wasn't helping, but Noa completed the thought for him.

"They screwed a rod to your tibia or something?" Noa asked, grimacing. He remembered watching some surgery program on television where they had done exactly that for a similar break. Yami thought about it, then tilted his head in a confirmation.

"God, Yami… I'm so, so sorry," Mokuba said, clutching at his friend's hand.

The former Pharaoh smiled reassuringly at the black-haired teen. "Mokuba, don't. It wasn't your fault. And… if I had to do it again, I would…" He paused for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Where's Seto? Is… he okay?"

Noa and Mokuba both looked at each other uncertainly. Jou ended up responding. "Can't you just mind link him or whatnot?"

"No. Can't really concentrate and… he closed it off. The link I mean. And I tried to call… but…" He looked over at the two brothers, who were continuing to give each other weird looks. "Mokuba? Where's Seto?" Yami's voice scaled up in alarm.

_Crud. Why me?_ "He's fine! He's fine… uh, look, Yami, I'm not sure what's going on, but Nii-sama… he doesn't know we're here. That's why Jou drove."

"We ditched school today," Noa explained. "It was the only way we could get out of the house without Seto knowing where we were going. And as long as my forged notes hold up, we can keep ditching to come here."

Yami's brow furrowed. "Ditching? You shouldn't… why would Seto… I don't understand."

The brothers exchanged worried glances. Finally, Mokuba said, "I'm still not sure why, but… Nii-sama told us we couldn't come to see you."

"What!" Jou yelped. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Mokuba sighed and gave his brother a nod. Noa turned towards the blonde and said, "Jounouchi, let's go wait outside. Mokuba needs to talk to Yami in private."

Jou began to protest, but seeing the expression on Yami's face, he gave in and let Noa drag him out of the room.

After the other two had left, Mokuba pulled up a chair and tried to think of the best way to explain what was going on. Yami just stared at him expectantly, so he reluctantly spilled what he knew. "Um… something's really wrong with Nii-sama, and I don't know what it is. The first night… after the earthquake, I mean… he was so upset that we couldn't tear him away from you. He even snapped at Yugi and was so worried that he threw up in the middle of the night." Mokuba stopped and gave Yami a chance to process everything.

"Okay…"

"The next morning, he seemed… well, he was still upset, but it was like more of an annoyed upset. I could tell something was bothering him, but he wouldn't talk to me about it. He just kept saying he'd take care of it himself. And then after I got discharged and the hospital called to say you had woken up, I thought things would be better, but then… he just became completely withdrawn. And not only has he refused to let us come down to see you, he's put a block on our cellphones and home phone so we can't make or receive calls from Yugi-tachi or from the hospital either, plus he's filtering our email and restricting our internet access on top of that. So since Shizuka's attending Domino High, we've been using her to relay messages, and that's how we got Jou to drive us today."

Yami frowned deeply. He was really confused. "I still don't understand…" he said, frustrated.

"Me neither. But I'll get to the bottom of it, I swear… He must have gotten a big scare out of you and me getting hurt and all. And I know he doesn't like hospitals." In a quieter voice, Mokuba added, "You know how Seto gets when he's upset… he explodes. But if things really get to him, he turns it inward instead. I think he blames himself for this, somehow, and that's why… he hasn't come to see you. Not that that explains why we weren't allowed to come here or talk to Yugi and the others, but... well... I'm trying to figure it out for you."

"Mm." Yami wasn't convinced that the problem would be easily remedied, but his mind was too fuzzy for him to consider what the real problem might be. The only thing he knew for sure was that Seto, even a very upset Seto who would irrationally place the blame on himself for something that was out of his control, wasn't one to run away from his problems or his fears. So what happened that was so bad that Seto felt the need to flee from it?

* * *

The next several days passed slowly for Yami. His back was quite sore thanks to bruising he had sustained in the quake, his head still felt muzzy, his leg was throbbing more often than not, and the doctors kept him on a steady dose of painkillers and anti-inflammatories which kept putting him to sleep whether he wanted to or not. Although Noa and Mokuba had ditched school two more times to visit, and there had been a constant stream of Yugi-tachi marching through the room and even a few phone calls from friends in America and Egypt, the one person he hoped to see never showed up and never called.

The only news he got regarding Seto came from Mokuba and Noa, and oddly enough, from Sugoroku, who informed him that Seto had called the game shop once to assure him that all of Yami's medical bills would be taken care of. As if money was the only thing Yami wanted from him. As if by saving Mokuba's life, he had assessed a dollar value on it and was just paying back a loan.

But there was only so much Yami could do while lying in a hospital bed. Which was why when he was given the okay to start some light physical therapy to get him back up and moving, he was all for it. He wanted to go home and he wanted to see Seto, because without being able to talk to his lover face-to-face, nothing would ever get resolved.

* * *

Perched on yet another uncomfortable hospital chair, Yugi watched as Yami slowly hobbled by for the third time, a nurse following close behind. The doctors had decided that Yami could be released the following afternoon provided that he got the hang of moving around on the crutches, so of course Yami threw himself into the task.

Yugi couldn't help but wonder if Seto would make Yami hobble around that huge mansion of his for the next six weeks until the cast could be removed. Not that he expected the CEO to carry him around or anything like that, but it would be nice if they could relocate to one of the many guest rooms on the first floor. The thought of Yami having to go up and down that grand staircase on crutches sounded inconvenient at best, and potentially dangerous at worst. Of course, stairs were only one problem. The bigger issue was Seto acting like a complete jerk… what kind of guy abandoned his injured boyfriend during an ordeal like this? True, he had been very attentive that first day, but once Yami had regained consciousness, he didn't call, didn't visit, didn't send a card or well wishes or _anything_ for that matter. He just said he'd pay the bills, which didn't really mean anything as far as Yugi was concerned; what was a few bucks to someone as wealthy as Seto Kaiba?

It really made no sense. Yugi thought that nothing would be able to keep Seto away from Yami's side. The two of them had a special bond, as special as the one he and Yami shared, and he couldn't imagine abandoning his other half like that EVER. Mokuba and Noa weren't able to explain it either, and even Yami couldn't come up with an answer. Still, when Yugi suggested that Yami move back into the game shop, at least for the next few weeks, the former Pharaoh had insisted that his place was at the mansion.

Yami made his way back over towards Yugi, then came to a stop. The violet-eyed teen looked up at his other half as he wobbled before him. _I really wish you'd reconsider coming back to the game shop with Jii-chan and me for the time being. It's not like you really would be moving back in… it'd just be temporary. I mean, if Kaiba's having issues, maybe he needs some time and space to think things through, and if you go running to confront him, it might actually push him further away, you know?_

Yami quirked an eyebrow. _You make it sound like I'm the problem, Aibou._

_No, of course not! And I know you want to be with Kaiba. But until you figure out what's wrong, maybe it's best to take a step back for now and let him work out his problems. This isn't anything like the problem you guys were having during your anniversary; at least that time, you understood what was wrong. And you were healthy..._

_I'm not giving up on my boyfriend,_ Yami responded stubbornly, turning to head back to his room. _If you can't drive me back to the mansion tomorrow, I'll understand._

Yugi got up and followed. _It's not like that, Yami. If you've truly made up your mind, I'll still drive you. I just wish you weren't so stubborn about it and that maybe, just once, you'd consider all your options._

_I've had days to think about it. And if something's bothering Seto, I want to be there for him._ Yugi frowned and caught himself before he verbalized his thoughts, but Yami guessed it anyways. _I know he hasn't been here for me, but I'm sure there's an explanation for it. Seto wouldn't act like this without a reason. _

_I know. I'm just worrying about you because you're injured and… well, I can't help it. Sometimes Kaiba's reasoning is… a little off. Are you sure you don't want "Mr. Kazama" to try talking to him first?_

Yami gave his lookalike a rueful smile as he reached his bed, turning around so he could sit on the lip and hoist himself up the rest of the way. _I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I hope "Mr. Kazama" won't ever have to make a reappearance again. But… thank you, Yugi. I couldn't have gotten through this without your support._

The violet-eyed teen blushed. _Oh geez… you're welcome. Anyways, make sure you get plenty of rest, and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon._

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- I know this chapter was slower and shorter than the others, but I needed a bridge to get to the next part. Think of this like a roller coaster. If you want to do those crazy drops and loops, you gotta go up the hill first.  
- Hmm… hope no one finds Yami's hospital stay too rushed (not in real time, but in the amount of space I dedicated to it). But this story isn't about how much Yami suffers in the hospital (ah, maybe I tricked some people into thinking that, eh?) and I honestly wanted to downplay that part of it as much as possible while still making them a part of the story. Keep in mind that not all pain is physical, after all :)  
- Re: Mr. Kazama. This is a reference from "More Than Words" (brief recap: Seto was having issues with his feelings for Yami and their one year anniversary, so Noa hacked into Seto's schedule and penned Yugi in as "Mr. Kazama" so that he could talk to Seto and figure out what the problem was). Incidentally, Shunsuke Kazama is Yugi and Yami's seiyuu in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters series.


	5. Ch 5: From Bad to Worse

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: The situation worsens at the Kaiba mansion.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Hey, some of my reviewers (oh... like Dragon & Rekall) are flaking. Stop flaking!  
- Re: Yami's mindset (Nenya, SoulSister, Desidera, Pye) - :D Yes, I'm trying to keep Yami as "understanding" and tolerant as possible of Seto's behavior, and oh, you don't know how much his patience and compassion will be tested in this.  
- Re: Seto's dreams, etc. (Darleneartist) - Hmm, lots of questions, and I can't give you answers 'cause then I might spoil parts of the story. But the Sennen Rod isn't even in this story, so there's no big baddie out there somewhere trying to get Seto or Yami. I think the boys have had enough with trying to save the world from villains.  
- Re: Mr. Kazama (Thunderstorm101) - LOL, like I said, it's a reference from my fic "More Than Words," since these stories are all contained in the same AU. If you're curious, that particular story is on my site and not on ffnet due to content.

* * *

****

Aftershocks

Ch. 5: From Bad to Worse

* * *

Ten days after he was first admitted, Yami was finally released from the hospital and true to his word, Yugi arrived in Jii-chan's old station wagon to give Yami a lift back to the mansion. But not surprisingly, two surgeries, various aches and pains, endless days of enforced bed rest, and no sign of Seto had made Yami a cranky mess and now he couldn't help passing on every unhappy thought to his aibou.

_Ugh, I can't get out of here fast enough, _the ex-spirit complained as a nurse pushed his wheelchair through the lobby while Yugi carried Yami's medication and personal effects out and went to bring the car around to the entrance. _I still don't get why they can't just let me hobble out of here with some dignity._

_Because if you fall and hurt yourself, they're afraid you might sue them, _Yugi replied patiently, though even his nerves were starting to wear thin from the waves of discontent that had been radiating off of his other half for the last few days. He wished Yami had taken him up on his offer to draw away some of the physical pain using their link, but Yami had stubbornly refused, even shutting down their link to a bare minimal trickle, when the violet-eyed teen had attempted it. After that, Yami made Yugi promise he wouldn't try it again before he was willing to open back up to him again.

_Aibou!_ Yami called out, interrupting Yugi's thoughts. The violet-eyed teen sighed and took a moment to pull the station wagon as close to the curb as possible, then threw it into park before getting out and running around to open the passenger side door. Yami allowed Yugi to help him get into the car after a quick mental argument, then they finally left the hospital, which should have made Yami happier, but instead it seemed to have the opposite effect on him.

Yugi wasn't sure if he preferred a crabby Yami or a morose one, though it was a little easier to concentrate on driving when his other half was sulking instead of complaining. But by the time they pulled up to the iron gates in front of the mansion grounds some 20 minutes later, Yami had gone completely silent.

_Yami? _Yugi called out, worried. He was also a bit concerned as to why no one had opened the gates for them yet when he knew that Shizuka had informed Mokuba and Noa the previous day that Yami was going to be released this afternoon. And why was Isono stepping out of the guard station to approach the car?

Yami rolled down the passenger side window and looked up impassively at Seto's chief of security. "Isono."

The man was sweating and mopping nervously at his forehead, which was never a good sign. "Um… Yami. I'm glad to see you're out of the hospital, sir, but I'm afraid that… uh… I have been asked by Mr. Kaiba to escort you into the house to pick up your things if you happened to come by."

"WHAT?" Yugi gasped, turning to the ex-spirit, afraid of what he might do in retaliation. Seto probably wouldn't appreciate finding out that Isono had been sent to the Shadow Realm. But Yami just sat there stone faced and didn't say a word. "No way… are you serious?"

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth. If you would please pull up in front of the house…"

Yugi flushed with agitation. "But…!" _It doesn't make sense! What in the world is Kaiba thinking?!_

"Go on," Yami murmured, dropping his head so that his bangs hid his eyes from view.

"Yami?"

"Please, just… go on."

* * *

It didn't matter that Yami wanted to go in and take care of things alone. He knew both Yugi, who was so helplessly upset that it was making him even more unhappy, and Isono, who was obligated to follow, were right behind him as he painfully made his way up the stairs. It really didn't make any difference at all because by the time he opened the door to the master bedroom and saw that Seto had already taken it upon himself to start packing up all his belongings, nothing that Yugi or Isono had to say would have made it any better or worse.

Yami slowly made his way into the room and sank down wearily on the bed. Isono took a step forward to stop him, but after considering his instructions, his employer hadn't specified that Yami wasn't to touch anything not belonging to him, so he withdrew his hand. Then he began to wonder what else was left open to interpretation…

"Oh… Yami…" Yugi breathed, taking in the several bags and boxes already piled neatly against one wall, each labeled in Seto's neat script describing the contents inside. "This is… why is Kaiba doing this?!"

Isono frowned, then decided to speak up. "For what it's worth, Yami, I just wanted you to know that while I don't understand the circumstances behind Mr. Kaiba's decision, I do believe he is making a big mistake. But still… I have to do my job. However, seeing as how Mr. Kaiba left rather… _vague_ directions, well, I _did_ escort you in..."

Yugi raised an eyebrow as the man bowed his head at Yami, then turned and walked out of the room. "Wow…"_ Isono is so loyal to Kaiba… that's almost like mutiny._

_Aibou._ Yami's tired mental voice once again interrupted Yugi's train of thought.

_Yes, Yami?_

_I would like a few minutes alone, if it's all right._

_Of course._ Yugi turned and quietly exited the bedroom as well, shutting the door behind him while clamping down on their link to give Yami the privacy he desired.

Once he was truly alone, Yami sighed deeply and got under the covers, rolling over to Seto's side of the bed to bury his face in the pillow, trying to find some comfort in the faint scent of his lover lingering on the sheets.

* * *

"Yami, are you home? Oh, hey Yugi!"

The violet-eyed teen started as he heard his name being called. Concerned, he turned to see Mokuba and Noa charging down the hallway towards him. "Hi."

Mokuba grinned in relief as he dropped his book bag on the floor. "We just got home and saw your car up front. How's Yami doing? I'm so glad he's back."

_Oh dear, I wonder if they know. _"Well, he's doing about as well as can be expected I guess. But, uh… has Kaiba said anything to you about Yami?"

Noa shook his head. "Nope, not a word. And we're tired of watching him sulk and hide behind his work. So now that Yami's home, hopefully things will go return to normal. Why? What's up?"

Yugi grimaced. _Boy, I do NOT want to be the bearer of bad news… _"Isono said Kaiba instructed him to escort Yami in to pick up his things. As in, he wants him to move out."

Two sets of jaws hit the ground. "Pick up his… wait, move out!? Please tell me you're kidding!" Noa managed to gasp.

"I don't believe it…" Mokuba said faintly. _That has to be a lie! Everyone knows that Seto can't live without Yami!_

Yugi sighed. He had a feeling he was going to be sighing a lot more in the future. "Me neither, but when I saw the boxes and stuff…"

Mokuba angrily pushed past Yugi to get into the bedroom, but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw that the violet-eyed teen was indeed telling the truth. Certainly there was no other explanation for the various boxes and bags on the floor with Seto's writing all over them. As Mokuba swept his eyes across the room, he finally spotted a few tufts of dark, scarlet tipped hair sticking up from under the covers on the left side of the bed. _Poor Yami! Nii-sama, what have you done!?_ "Yami?" he said cautiously.

The tri-colored spikes shifted. "Mokuba?" Yami mumbled, though he made no move to get out from under the covers.

Mokuba ran over to the bed and cried out plaintively, "Yami, I don't want you to leave!"

A hand emerged from under the covers and pushed the sheets back until a pale face and sad crimson eyes were revealed. "It's not exactly my choice," Yami said dully, sitting up with a bit of effort.

Well, it was hard to argue with that statement. Mokuba considered his response carefully. _Let's see, I can cry and guilt Yami into staying, or I can be a jerk like Seto and tell him that quitting is for losers… _So he let his eyes get big and shimmery, then burst into tears and threw himself at Yami. "Don't go! We need you and… and Seto needs you too! He's just being stupid and unreasonable and… and…"

"And he's an asshole," Noa finished up as he walked into the room with Yugi. The pair had just finished arguing out in the hallway about whether the former Pharaoh should stay and fight it out with Seto, or leave with Yugi and give Seto the space he apparently was craving. Yugi's main concern was Yami's physical, mental and emotional health, but the two finally agreed that it was ultimately Yami's decision to make.

Yugi sighed again, then walked over to the bed. "Yami, do you want to stay or come back with me? I need to go pretty soon because I have a paper that's due first thing tomorrow morning, but if you're going to stay, Noa said that he and Mokuba would be happy to help you unpack your things. And if you want to leave…"

Yami looked down at the sobbing teen in his arms, feeling a bit heartened by everyone's support. "I'm staying. And you don't have to keep crying, Mokuba… I wouldn't ever give up on Seto without a fight. Thank you for reminding me of that."

Mokuba sniffled and pulled away, his face slightly pink with embarrassment at being caught. "Nii-sama doesn't deserve you," he said in all seriousness.

_Are you absolutely sure? _Yugi asked Yami through their link, though he knew his other half would _not_ give up on his lover so easily. But he couldn't help but continue to worry about how Seto might react when he came back and saw Yami in the house against his wishes. The young CEO wasn't exactly renowned for his restraint, though even Yugi couldn't imagine him getting physically violent with Yami.

_Yes. It'll be all right… I'll figure something out._ The crimson-eyed teen finally grabbed his crutches and hopped out of bed.

_I hope so. Just remember that you aren't alone in this, and if you ever need to talk or a ride or anything at all, I'll always be here for you. _ Yugi leaned in for a quick hug, then told Noa and Mokuba, "I know your loyalty should be to your brother first, but can I count on you two to stand by Yami on this?"

Mokuba and Noa glanced at each other. "Of course you can; this is for Seto's own good anyhow!" the black-haired teen responded confidently while Noa nodded emphatically in agreement, putting a small smile on Yugi's face.

"Thanks Mokuba. And I'll talk to you later, Yami." With a wave, the violet-eyed teen left the bedroom.

Noa turned to his two companions. "Well, now that that's settled, let's start unpacking."

* * *

Seto didn't get home until nearly 9:00 PM despite the fact that it was just an ordinary Sunday. He really wasn't surprised that neither Mokuba nor Noa came down to greet him but in many ways, it was easier that way. He felt guilty enough without the accusatory looks they were giving him. They were obviously quite upset about the fact that he had forbidden them from visiting Yami, but it was a decision he stood by.

Heading into the kitchen for a late dinner, Seto yanked a random frozen meal from the freezer and popped it into the microwave. While the food heated up, he couldn't help but think about how much he missed Yami's cooking. And sitting down for dinner with Yami and his brothers, complete with inane conversation about work and school and Yami's laughter in his head and Yami's warm shoulder bumping up against his arm while a hand slid over to gently rub his thigh… _Stop it! Stop thinking about it, you idiot! You should be happy to know that he's alive; keep worrying about him and he'll end up permanently dead this time, and it'll be your fault, _he silently berated himself, his stomach beginning to churn once again.

All of a sudden dinner didn't sound so good anymore.

* * *

After losing his appetite, and with no one in the house to talk to, Seto figured he'd just turn in for the evening. Normally he would have had something business related to do, but since he had started working longer hours again he was finding it hard to keep himself buried with work. And the earlier he went to bed, the earlier he could get up, which would help him avoid the uncomfortable silence that had pervaded breakfast for the last few days.

With that decided, Seto quietly walked into his bedroom, flipped on the lights, went to walk past the bed, and nearly had a heart attack when he glimpsed something unexpected out of the corner of his eye.

Yami was asleep. In his bed. On his side of the bed even. In a panic, the brunette grabbed the remote on the nightstand to switch the lights off, but even in the darkness, he could still see the outline of Yami's body, lying there on his bed.

_What the FUCK? Why is he here? Oh no… no no no… Isono should have made him take his things and leave. _His feet carried him against his will towards the bed, and he quickly found himself practically leaning over the sleeping teen, for as upset as he was, he couldn't help but feel a rush of relief at seeing Yami alive and more or less well. _What am I supposed to do? Sleep downstairs? Wake him and kick him out?_

His foot shifted forward slightly and bumped against something, knocking it into a few other items and sending the entire lot clattering to the ground. Oddly, Yami didn't wake up, though he did moan piteously before rolling over. Seto automatically began reaching for him, wanting to soothe him and stroke his hair, only managing to catch himself a few scant millimeters away from making contact. Frowning at his own loss of control, Seto wrenched his hand away and reached down to pick up the fallen items instead, which turned out to be a pair of cold, long metal objects and a few pill bottles. After propping the crutches back up on the nightstand, his curiosity got the better of him and he took the trio of pill bottles to the bathroom to examine them.

They turned out to be prescription painkillers, an anti-inflammatory, and sleeping pills. _So he's out like a light. I could have someone take him back to the game shop and he wouldn't know the difference..._ But Seto couldn't help but selfishly make an excuse for Yami to stay. _But what if he woke up on the way there and couldn't fall asleep afterwards? They must have prescribed sleeping pills for a reason… maybe he's in so much pain that he can't sleep. And it would be awfully disorientating for him to wake up in a car in the middle of the night, unable to recall how he managed to get there._

Unable to convince himself to send Yami away, the young billionaire figured the best thing to do was to go sleep in a guest bedroom. But once again, he found himself justifying why he should stay. While he turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat up, he thought, _What if he needs someone to keep an eye on him with all the medication he's on? Or what if he gets cold but he can't get up to fetch himself a blanket? And it's my bed anyways… no reason why I should inconvenience myself by moving downstairs._

In the end, Seto decided to leave Yami where he was, and grabbing a few extra pillows from the closet, he placed them in the center of the bed so that even if he rolled over in his sleep he wouldn't be able to easily latch onto Yami. Satisfied with his temporary solution, he finally turned in for the night, but sleep proved to be elusive. What would he do once morning came?

* * *

Yami woke up alone late the next morning, though it was quite obvious to even his muddled mind that someone else had slept in the bed last night. After all, he didn't stack a bunch of pillows down the center of the mattress, leave the sheets all rumpled on the right side, and he certainly didn't shed the single strand of brown hair that clung loosely to the pillow on the other side of the bed.

_Seto…_

The ex-spirit groaned and rolled over, throwing an arm over his eyes. Things were only becoming more and more confusing. At least he knew now for certain that Seto didn't want him gone. But his boyfriend's heart had always been a difficult thing to read and an even more delicate thing to handle, even for Mokuba. Though Seto always put up a brave front, Yami knew how vulnerable he really was underneath that indomitable exterior… how rattled, no, _terrified_ he must have been to realize that he could have lost both his beloved little brother and his lover in a single disastrous moment, and how overwhelming that realization must have been.

Yami was willing to back away and give Seto his space, willing to wait as long as it took for Seto to work out whatever was bothering him, willing to be a sympathetic ear if Seto chose to take advantage of that fact. He was willing to do whatever it took to get Seto back because he couldn't imagine his life without him, but first of all, he had to get Seto to stop running away from the problem and to do that, he would have to confront him.

It turned out to be a much more difficult task than Yami had anticipated. Thanks to his medication, he was sleeping much more than normal and two more nights passed with the exact same results as the first. Even Mokuba and Noa were having problems nailing Seto down since he was back to functioning on minimal sleep. By the time the younger teens awoke Seto was already off to Kaiba Corp., and there he stayed until very late at night. Noa had even suggested calling or emailing Seto in lieu of a face-to-face conversation, but Seto simply hung up or discarded the messages his unhappy lover was leaving. They might have even asked Isono for a little help in passing on notes, but Seto had FIRED the unfortunate man for insubordination the day after Yami got back from the hospital, something which Yami swore to remedy the first chance he got. Just because Seto was upset didn't give him the right to ruin everyone else's lives.

So on his fourth evening back, Yami skipped the sleeping pills and turned in extra early in hopes that he would be able to wake up in time to catch Seto before he left for work the next morning.

* * *

It was impossible to tell what time it was without looking at the clock, but from the chill in the air and the complete lack of natural light, Yami figured it had to be fairly early in the morning. He lay still as the clock radio droned on, listening to Seto as he rolled over, cursing softly, his hand fumbling for the off switch on the alarm. But the taller duelist didn't get out of the bed like Yami thought he would; instead, he rolled over and propped himself up on what Yami had come to think of as the Great Wall of Pillows.

Perplexed, Yami reminded himself to control his breathing. Seconds slowly ticked by. _Is he going to just look at me?_ Seto seemed to be satisfied with just staring at him as if he were an interesting computer schematic or something. But then the mattress dipped a little more and Yami could feel Seto's exhalations he narrowed the gap between them. Then a strand of silky hair unexpectedly brushed across the tip of Yami's nose, causing crimson eyes to fly open in surprise. The shorter teen hadn't thought that his boyfriend had gotten in so close.

Seto gasped and jerked back so hard that several pillows from the "wall" were knocked aside. _Fuck… was he awake this whole time?!_ He quickly scrambled off the bed, nervously running his fingers through sleep tousled hair while he tried to figure out what to do.

"Baby?"

The brunette gulped. Just hearing Yami's voice and the way it caressed that familiar nickname made him want to cave in, but he couldn't… there was too much at risk for him to be so easily swayed. Gathering up all the willpower he could muster, he put on a mask of cold indifference and walked around to the other side of the bed, grabbing Yami's robe off the chest at the foot of the bed and throwing it at him, wincing at the way the fabric slapped against bruised skin. "Get out."

Yami was a bit slow in reaction time, so the balled up garment hit his chest and fell into his lap. "Seto, please… we ought to talk."

"Put it on and get _out!_" Seto barked icily, though internally he was aching from speaking so callously. But he knew if he gave Yami a chance to talk, the wily ex-spirit would find a way to convince him to continue their relationship, which would only lead to disaster and even more heartache in the end. Even though it was tearing him apart, he reminded himself that he was doing this for Yami's sake at the very least. At least this way Yami wouldn't die again. He just hoped that knowledge would be enough to sustain him, since he certainly wanted Yami to go on and find happiness with someone who deserved him, someone who would not burden him with such an unfortunate curse.

Still… it was hard as hell having to watch Yami struggle out of bed, the robe now hanging off slumped shoulders. With hurt glazing over his eyes, Yami grabbed his crutches and slowly began to make his way out of the room. He was halfway to the door when one of the crutches caught on the dangling belt from his robe, throwing him off balance. Alarmed, Seto dashed forward, catching the shorter duelist just as he instinctively slammed his cast clad right foot down in an effort to keep himself from falling.

Yami couldn't keep a small cry from escaping his lips as the pain shot straight up his leg and without thinking, Seto scooped Yami up into his arms. As soon as their bodies settled into that position, the young CEO realized what he had done and nearly dropped the crimson-eyed teen in surprise. _What in the world am I doing? _Their eyes met for a brief moment, but Seto broke contact as soon as he was able._ How the fuck am I supposed to get rid of him if I flip out every time I even so much as look at him?!_

Extremely uneasy about what was going on, Seto tried to convince himself to simply put Yami down and hand him his crutches, but his body refused to obey. So he found himself carrying Yami back to bed, his arms wrapped much more tightly than necessary around the slender figure. _I'm just letting him rest since he's injured. It's no big deal; I'll be out the door in a matter of minutes. And if he's still here when I get back tonight, I'll just wake him up and tell him it's over. _He unconsciously clutched Yami even more tightly than before.

Although Seto was putting a highly uncomfortable amount of pressure on the bruises spotting his back, Yami didn't complain… after spending two weeks without Seto, any sign of affection from his boyfriend was a very welcome thing indeed. Unfortunately, the moment was so brief that it seemed to be over before it began, and before Yami could even say a word Seto had dumped him back on the bed, pulled the covers up, and mumbled, "I have to go."

"Wait, Seto…"

The brunette cut him off. "No. Just shut up and go back to sleep. You're lucky I'm not kicking your crippled ass out of here."

"Don't say that, Seto… Kai-baby, please…" Yami said plaintively.

Without another word, Seto turned around and walked into the closet to select an outfit for work, then carried everything out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- I made a minor correction back in Ch. 4, where Mokuba tells Yami that Seto blocked the phone numbers for Yugi-tachi… I forgot to add in the fact that Seto's filtering their emails as well. It's a small detail but it's important since the boys obviously would have tried every option to contact Yugi-tachi.


	6. Ch 6: Past, Present, Future

Spoilers: some reference to Pharaoh's Memory / Ancient Egypt arc   
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Sugoroku reveals a secret from the past and Seto makes a decision that impacts the future.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Re: Isono (Thunderstorm101, Pye, mechante, Desi) - I'm glad people picked up on the significance of Seto firing the poor guy. Boy, I love messing with his life.  
- Re: Crying (Buka) - OMG - I made you cry? That's so awesome! (not the fact that you cried, the fact that I could make someone cry) If I can get an emotional reaction out of what I write, whether it's good or bad, then I'm doing my job.  
- Re: Figuring out Seto (Desi) - You may have given up trying to figure out Seto, but you're actually not too far off :D  
- Re: What's happening next (Darlene) - Oh, you'll hate me this chapter then. But I can't say anything more than that... don't want to give anything away!

* * *

****

Aftershocks

Ch. 6: Past, Present, Future

* * *

As tempting as it was to spend the entire day in bed hiding from reality, Yami knew it really wasn't helpful in the long run, so he forced himself to get up and carefully made his way down to the kitchen. The Kaibas weren't going to subsist off of ramen, pizza and TV dinners if he had anything to do with it. Unfortunately, they were running quite low on groceries, so it looked like he was going to have to go out and take care of that problem. He knew that the members of the security team stationed at the house would be willing to take him, but after Isono lost his job, Yami was reluctant to involve any more employees. And of course the house phone was still blocked so he couldn't easily contact his friends in Domino, though at least Seto hadn't thought of blocking calls to America. So at least he could still talk to Valon, Rafael and Amelda, not that they could help buy groceries. At least Yugi was as always readily available via mind link. But in order to talk to anyone else, he had to pass his messages on through Yugi, which was inconvenient and annoying. And he hated being a bother.

Still, an empty fridge was an empty fridge. _Yugi?_

_Hey Yami, how are you doing?_

_I'm… okay._

_Kaiba's still not talking to you huh?_

_I think it was better when he wasn't talking to me. We got into a bit of a fight, if you can call it that._

_Oh no… _Yugi groaned. _What happened?_

_He… well, never mind that. I need a ride to the grocery store._

_The grocery… Wait, what do you mean never mind!_

Yami winced a little at Yugi's shriek of alarm. _Aibou, don't worry about it. Do you think you can find someone to give me a ride? I don't want to get anyone else at the mansion involved, or Seto might decide to fire his entire security team._

A sigh. _I can skip class if you really need…_

_No, please don't. Maybe I should take the bus or call a cab. You think a cabbie would help me carry things into the house?_

_I don't know. And there's no way you can take the bus - the nearest bus stop is like a mile away from the mansion! Do you know how long would it take you to hobble to the… Wait a sec…_ Yugi faded out, then came back on. _ Jii-chan says he can take you if you don't mind waiting another hour._

_Won't he have to close shop for that? It's all right… I'll just call a cab._

_No!_

_Yes._

_Yami! Besides, he said he needed to grab a few things too. Really. He insists._

It really was easier than taking a cab. Defeated, Yami gave in. _Oh, all right._

* * *

An hour later, the station wagon pulled up the driveway and soon Yami and Sugoroku were on their way. Yami was rather quiet on the way there and throughout the brief sojourn, prompting a few worried glances from the old man. So since Yami wasn't going to start up conversation about what had happened, Sugoroku finally decided to take the initiative as they headed back to the Kaiba mansion.

"So, Yami… how are you holding up? Yugi seems to think there's some problems at home," the game shop owner began.

Yami gave him a sideways glance. "It's nothing. Please don't worry about it."

"Oh, I see." Getting the crimson-eyed teen to answer would be a bit of a challenge, but Sugoroku knew what would get him to talk, even if it was a bit underhanded. "Well, while I have no intention of forcing you to respond, there was a time when we were like family and you and I talked quite frequently. Then you ran off to be with Kaiba and things just haven't been the same, have they?" _Hmm, I could have phrased that a bit better…_

Yami turned, looking a bit startled. "I'm… sorry. I do still think of us as family. It's just… I guess I always think I can handle things on my own."

"Hm. While it is admirable that you are so self-reliant, especially at your age…"

"I'm a lot older than you," Yami pointed out wryly.

"Bah, all that time in the Puzzle doesn't count since you don't remember a bit of it. Besides, I look at you and I see a teenager, and since I'm an old man, you're still a child to me."

Yami couldn't help but grin slightly at Sugoroku's logic, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I suppose. But Seto and I aren't quite like other people our age."

"Oh, definitely. You're both very unique."

"Unique? Unique good or unique bad?"

"Just... unique. I don't know of another 3,000-year-old former Pharaoh or another 19-year-old self-made billionaire CEO. Speaking of whom, you certainly did pick a difficult person to love."

"He's not difficult to love," Yami instantly responded, on the defensive. "He's just… complicated."

"And difficult." Yami made a face, but didn't argue back, so Sugoroku went on. "I must say, I never really did approve of your choice… until I realized how well you two complimented each other. Before that, even though I didn't say anything to you about it, I was very uncomfortable with you dating someone like Kaiba, and I didn't approve that Yugi had a hand in setting you up with him. Don't misunderstand; whether you like girls or boys doesn't matter to me. I just wanted what was best for you, and Kaiba struck me as being bad news. I thought I understood your initial attraction to him; after all, Kaiba is wealthy and intelligent and has a certain brash charm. And he knew how to get your attention. I used to be a teenager myself you know, though it was a long time ago, but I still remember how things could get a little crazy when hormones came into play. But well, I'm just glad I was wrong. I should have never thought that you would be so shallow."

"You weren't entirely wrong, Jii-chan. There was the physical attraction at first, but then I remembered a bit of my past, and Seto began to open up to me, and one thing led to another in quick succession. I don't know… once we gave it a chance, the pieces just fell into place."

Sugoroku nodded. "Hm, yes. You've said that this was a relationship destined to happen, but even so, all relationships have their ups and downs."

Yami let out the breath he was holding and began to spill as the car made its way down the street leading to the mansion. "I knew that going into it, but… I just wish he'd talk to me about whatever it is that's bothering him so much. And I wish he'd reestablish our link just enough so that I could sense him; he knows I wouldn't invade his thoughts, so I don't understand why he's severed the connection. I really, really miss just… _feeling_ him more than anything else. It's hard to describe, but it's… it's like a comforting warmth, always knowing that someone cares and never having to feel that you're alone. And I know I still have Yugi to rely on, but without Seto I feel… incomplete. I'm glad I wasn't conscious during my 3,000 year stay in the Puzzle… it would have been so cold and lonely."

The old man couldn't help but reach out to place a comforting hand on the ex-spirit's shoulder. _Poor boy. At times like this, I'm glad he doesn't remember anything._ "Well, while I can't say I have any experience with the type of bond you share with both Yugi and Kaiba, I do know this: anything worth having is worth fighting for. So don't give up, Yami. You have the patience and generosity of spirit already. As long as Kaiba sees that you're willing to be there for him no matter what, he'll eventually come around, I'm sure. Now then…" Sugoroku pulled the car up to the single spot beside the kitchen door. "Would you like some help with bringing in the groceries?"

Yami was about to say no on reflex, but quickly realized that he really couldn't manage on his own. "Please. And Jii-chan? Thank you. I'll always be proud to call you my grandfather. Maybe… we could start alternating Friday nights again? And you should come to the mansion once in a while as well… the invitation still stands."

Sugoroku beamed and nodded. "I'd like that very much. And I'm proud to call you my grandson as well, Yami. But remember… if you need anything, just call. Yugi and I… we'll never say no to you."

* * *

After helping Yami with carrying everything into the house, Sugoroku headed back to the game shop to find that Yugi and Jou had already returned from their classes and opened the shop back up. But it was a quiet day and there really weren't any customers, so the two teens had started playing a friendly duel to pass the time.

"Hey, so how's Yami doin'?" Jou asked as soon as the shop owner returned from putting away his own groceries.

"He's… well, I certainly have no doubts about how Yami feels. I just hope Kaiba figures out whatever is bothering him sooner rather than later. Even though Yami is a strong person, he's quite depressed and not doing a terribly good job at hiding it, even though he's trying to. But I'm glad I had a chance to talk to him… sometimes I forget about how much he's been through."

Yugi cocked his head. "What do you mean, Jii-chan?"

The old man sat down on a stool. "Did I ever tell you the story of how I found the Puzzle?"

"You sure did. You were a regular Indiana Jones back then!"

Jou looked baffled. "He was Indiana Jones?"

Sugoroku chuckled. "I went to the Valley of the Kings and braved a perilous trek through the tomb of the nameless Pharaoh in search of the legend of the Shadow Games. That's how I got the pieces of the Puzzle."

"Really? Wow, that's cool!" Jou gushed. "But uh… I can't really imagine you doing somethin' like that…"

"I wasn't always old!" Sugoroku bellowed. The brown-eyed blonde ducked his head, embarrassed. "Anyways, Yugi… did I remember to tell you what happened when I walked into the final chamber where the Puzzle was held?"

Jou grabbed a seat on another stool. "Oh, oh, tell me!"

Yugi tried to remember what his grandfather had told him. "Well, let's see… I remember you said that the guide who led you to the tomb betrayed you and shot you in the back when you were crossing the bridge that led to the Pharaoh's treasure. Then a monster sprang out from a carving on the bridge and killed the man and that's how you were able to retrieve the Puzzle."

"Mmm. I guess I didn't tell you." Sugoroku nodded sagely, then leaned forward to finish his story. "When I was shot I fell off the bridge, and barely managed to save myself by grabbing the lip of it. But I couldn't hold on for long with only one hand. Just when I thought I was going to lose my grip and fall to my doom, I saw _him_."

Violet eyes widened dramatically. "Him… Yami! You saw him back then?"

"Not really Yami I suppose, but the Pharaoh he once was. He knelt down to grab my hand and told me, 'I've been waiting a long time for you, Shimon.' I must've passed out right after that, because the next thing I knew, I was lying on the bridge and there was no sign of the Pharaoh."

"Wait, wasn't Yami just a spirit back then? So how could he physically manifest himself and pull you up? And who's Shimon?" Jou asked.

"I don't know. And Yami doesn't remember any of it, so even if you ask him, he won't be able to tell you. But it's probably better that way," Sugoroku said.

"He wanted his memories back though. It's the one thing we were never able to give him," Yugi reminded his grandfather, who just gave him a sad look in return.

"Though I can't be certain, I suspect perhaps part of the reason that he's unable to remember is because the memories of his time alone would drive him mad since he was obviously conscious on some level during the thousands of years he spent alone in his tomb. Even though he was just a spirit, it must have been unbearably painful to spend day after day, year after year, alone. Today while I was driving him home, he told me he was glad he wasn't aware of anything during the time he was trapped in the Puzzle… I wasn't going to tell him otherwise, but it just made me think... perhaps there is such a thing as divine mercy..." Sugoroku's voice dropped off, and the trio sat there in silence for a good minute.

Yugi shut his eyes and concentrated on the link he shared with Yami. Though they weren't actively communicating as much as they used to, he could always feel his other half's presence at the edge of his thoughts at a respectful distance. It was something they were both so used to that it was distressing to think of what life would be like without it. _If Yami was so lonely during all those years that he somehow forgot everything rather than face those memories, how hard must it be for him now that Kaiba's cut their mental bond? Granted, the link thing is still kinda new to them, but I bet Kaiba doesn't understand how important it is to Yami at all!_

Finally, Yugi said, "Maybe I should try talking to Kaiba myself. If he heard this story, maybe he'd show a bit more compassion, and try to work through his problems a bit faster."

Jou snorted in disbelief. "If he wanted to show compassion, he'd have visited the hospital while Yami was there. But if you think that will help, Yug… maybe I should come with ya and all…"

"I don't think that would help matters any, Jou. You'll just get into a fight with him."

The blonde thumbed his nose. "Well then, maybe he'll listen better if I pound his face in first."

"Jou!"

Jou scowled and unconsciously made a fist with his right hand. "It just makes me mad. I mean, here we are trying to be nice and friendly and all with Kaiba, thinkin' that he's good for Yami, and he's acting like the world's biggest fuck up. That rich bastard doesn't deserve someone like Yami. Does he really think he could find someone else who would put up with his brand of shit?"

"I agree with you Jounouchi, although I would've phrased it a bit differently. But keep in mind how Yami feels about Kaiba. If you overreact and hurt Kaiba badly and Yami finds out about it, he's going to feel responsible since you were acting on his behalf," Sugoroku pointed out. "Don't make him divide his loyalties."

That seemed to put out some of Jou's fire, and he sat back down. "I guess you're right. Damn… I hate this."

"I just hope Kaiba will listen to me if I pay him a visit," Yugi sighed.

"It's certainly worth a try, but make sure he understands that he isn't to tell Yami any of this," Sugoroku warned. "And be careful. Kaiba's extremely unpredictable right now. Remember what happened that first night in the hospital?"

An involuntary shudder ran through Yugi's body at the memory of how Seto had tried to attack him while protecting Yami. But at least he had cared then… Yugi would've been happy to go through a scare like that again if that would confirm that Seto still loved Yami. "Mm, don't worry, I will. But I have to do this for Yami."

* * *

Seto's secretary tapped her nails nervously on her desk while she tried to make a decision that had the potential get her fired. Her boss had made it clear that neither Yami nor any of his friends were allowed to see him, but security had conveniently turned a blind eye and allowed Yugi Mutou up to the 70th floor. And she wasn't ignorant; she knew there was something wrong with Seto's relationship with Yami, but it wasn't her business to ask about it or interfere. Still, this was one thing she could do, simply by doing nothing at all…

"Look, it's all right. If you really can't let me in, I'll understand," Yugi said, anxiously toying with the Sennen Puzzle. "Lord forbid that Kaiba fire you the way he fired Isono.

"Oh, poor Isono. I can't believe that happened," Ms. Nozaka agreed, recalling the way the former chief of security had left Seto's office in tears after being fired. And if her boss had been willing to fire the one man who was more loyal to him than any other employee, it meant that he would have no problem looking for a new secretary as well. But with the way he was acting, reverting to his old schedule and his sour attitude, perhaps being forced to find a new job wasn't such a bad prospect after all. Too bad no one else could match the salary she was earning from Kaiba Corp.

Ms. Nozaka rose to her feet, decision made. "I need to go run some copies," she declared, picking up a stack of random documents and walking away from her desk.

"Thanks," Yugi whispered as he turned to watch her go. Taking a deep breath, he approached the doors to Seto's office and walked in without announcing himself.

"I told you, I don't want any interrupt…" Seto's eyes widened marginally as he realized it was Yugi walking into his expansive office, and his typing faltered. "What are you doing here?" he asked brusquely, wondering if perhaps he should just call in security and let them deal with the situation. Then again, it wasn't as if Yugi had snuck in unseen. Seto idly wondered how many more people he would have to fire.

"Kaiba." There was a wealth of emotion in Yugi's single utterance.

With a sigh, Seto saved the file he was working on and peered over the top of his laptop, eyeing Yugi warily. "What?"

"Are you busy? Can we talk for a minute?" Yugi pulled out one of the guest chairs and sat down.

"Yes I'm busy. No I don't want to talk," the brunette ground out, glaring daggers at the shorter duelist. "Do you want to leave on your own two feet or should I have whatever remains of my security force drag you out on your sorry ass?"

Yugi frowned and sucked in a deep breath. _ I suppose I should just go ahead and start talking and hope he doesn't really kick me out on my butt. _"First of all, don't tell Yami this no matter what 'cause he really shouldn't know, but Jii-chan told me a story today about how when he found the Puzzle he saw Yami and Yami saved him. Okay, so it wasn't Yami Yami but the Pharaoh, you know, and Yami called Jii-chan 'Shimon' and said, 'I've been waiting a long time' which means he was awake and aware that time had passed while he was alone and trapped in the Puzzle. And he must have been awfully lonely so maybe that's why he doesn't remember anything so please don't be an ass and…"

Seto put a hand to his head and began rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration as Yugi talked as fast as he could. _What the hell is he babbling about? Yami was aware of his 3,000 years in the… oh God… _The young billionaire suddenly felt the urge to throw up again, but he held it down by sheer willpower. _I spared myself the agony of going through the rest of my natural life alone, but Yami was doubly cursed. And it was my fault! Fuck! He should never have sacrificed himself, and I'm not letting it happen again! _After calming himself enough to know that he wasn't going to vomit just by trying to speak, he snapped, "Just shut the fuck up, Yugi. You're not making any sense."

Large violet eyes narrowed in an approximation of Yami's own glare. "I'm _trying_ to tell you that what you're doing to Yami is almost as bad as trapping him in the Sennen Puzzle! Do you know how upset he is over the way you're ignoring him? I swear, how can you act like you don't care about Yami at all after the two of you have built up such a special relationship?"

_I do care, much more than I should. And that's my problem to deal with. Even if Yami's unhappy, at least he's alive, and that's all I can do for him now… you think I want to see the misery in his eyes and know that I'm the cause of it? You really think I'm not dying inside thinking of what this must be doing to him? But at least this way he still has a chance to find happiness elsewhere, something that wouldn't be possible if he were dead. _But Seto knew he couldn't let Yugi find out about any of that, because then he'd tell Yami and then Yami would never leave him. "Maybe I don't care," he lied casually, hoping his face wasn't betraying any emotion. "You know where the door is; don't let it smack your rear on your way out."

Yugi jumped to his feet but made no move to leave. "Are you breaking up with him? Is that it?" he yelled, his anger making him much bolder than usual.

"Perhaps." _It'd really be for the best, wouldn't it? Why don't I just make it official then? _But even as he considered just doing it and getting it over with, another part of him said, _You're a selfish coward and you don't want him to leave you, so you keep making excuses and putting it off._

"But… _why?_"

Seto sneered. "Why what? It's none of your business, shrimp." _Sorry Yugi, but you're not making this any easier for me. Why can't you take the hint and leave?_

"You can insult me all you want, but it IS my business and I'm not leaving until you make up your mind. Do you want to be with Yami or not? Yes or no, Kaiba? It's unfair that you're toying with him like this!"

The brunette didn't respond. He couldn't answer that with another lie. Of course he wanted to be with Yami. It just wasn't an option anymore. Someone like Yugi, cheerful and optimistic and lacking any true responsibility to anything or anyone, would never understand.

But Yugi was determined to get a definite answer one way or another. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry. In a helpless fury, he picked up the phone that sat on Seto's desk and held it up. "Go on then, call him and tell him it's over! Just do it, you… you selfish jerk!"

Seto took the handset, but he wasn't sure he was ready to do it even as Yugi began dialing the number for him, punching the speaker option as an afterthought. Just holding the phone in his hand made Seto feel sick, however he found that he couldn't put it down either. He really ought to just get it over with. While he wavered the phone began ringing, and before Seto could force himself to hang up, Yami picked up, sounding a bit breathless but with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Seto?"

"Ya… mi." Yugi was giving him a murderous look. _Just say it… say it and be done with it. This is for the best for everyone. _"I…" _Let Yami get on with his life. If you value him at all, you'll do this. _"What's today, Thursday?" His throat was going dry. "I expect you to start packing up your things tonight night, because I want you out by the end of this weekend." _There, you did it. Congrats. Don't you feel wonderful now?_

He felt like complete and utter shit. If it were physically possible to drown in misery, he was at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches by now.

Yami was silent on the line for a long moment with nothing but his labored breathing proving that he was still connected. Finally, in a low voice, he murmured, "Baby, don't do this to me…"

It was so wrong to hear Yami on the verge of begging, so Seto quickly cut him off. "It's over, sorry you didn't manage to figure that out on your own." _What am I doing? Tell me you won't leave, Yami! Tell me I'm full of shit. Don't take this crap from me._

Another long silence, this time punctuated by a soft choking sound. But it wasn't coming from the phone. The young CEO looked up to see Yugi quickly swiping the back of his hands under his eyes.

"Seto."

He nearly jumped at the sound of Yami's voice on the phone. "What?"

"Seto, I lo…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Seto yelled in a panic, slamming the handset down so hard that the plastic cracked. _Damn it! Yami, I'm sorry… I wish I could tell you, but… _He leaned back in his executive's chair and shut his eyes. Then he remembered that Yami's other half was in the room with him, and had been privy to the entire conversation. "Satisfied?" he asked, opening his eyes to meet Yugi's teary gaze, proud that his voice at least held steady even though he felt like he was falling apart.

Yugi didn't say a word and just stared back at Seto with accusation in his eyes. It was rather unnerving. Seto fought the sudden desire to sink into his seat and stood up instead, walking around his desk to tower over Yugi. "I hope you're happy. Now get out. I've wasted enough of my time on this as it is."

The spiky-haired teen lowered his eyes momentarily, then without warning took a step forward and drove his knee up hard into Seto's groin. The brunette made a choking noise and instantly dropped to the ground as pain shot straight up his spine, eyes watering and bile rising in his throat as he cradled his balls protectively. Through the haze of agony, he heard Yugi's voice coldly cursing him out with a string of words that he thought he'd never hear coming from Yugi, of all people, and then the shorter duelist stormed out of the office.

When Seto was finally able to gather his thoughts together many minutes later, half-crawling and half-bracing himself against his desk to get back into his chair, he almost wished Yugi had kneed him harder. He had deserved worse. And even though his balls hurt like hell, his heart was aching even more.

_Forgive me, Yami. I never wanted to hurt you, never, _he thought, knowing that the other teen couldn't hear his thoughts anymore, not that Yami would care to after what had just transpired. But it had to be done. At least now Yami would have a chance at living the life that was so cruelly stolen away thousands of years prior. Seto tried to seek as much solace as he could with that thought; it would be the only comfort he could rely on to get through another lonely evening.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- This chapter came from nowhere (okay, to be honest, this story hasn't been planned out entirely or um… at all, so I'm literally making stuff up on the fly) and ugh, I completely rewrote several section multiple times because I couldn't decide which direction I should head in. So I hope I chose wisely. This turned out quite a bit darker than I originally planned, but… well, I guess I wrote it for a reason. Wasn't planning to break 'em up, but…  
- Re: Sugoroku. There's three "parts" to this.   
1) I had no intention of putting Sugoroku in this arc (he's always around, he just doesn't show up much in my AU), but after seeing the first episode of AE I saw a lot of potential with having him give Yami some advice, since Shimon was Atemu's advisor. And there's nothing more poignant than thinking about what it must have been like for Atemu as he waited for 3,000 years for someone to come along and retrieve the Puzzle.   
2) I noticed in the US dub that when Atemu's spirit shows up to help the younger Sugoroku after the traitorous guide shot him, Atemu didn't call him by name. In the original Japanese anime (I think) as well as the manga (which I confirmed with my own little eyes), Atemu calls him Shimon. I know they feel the need to edit out everything, but why that? So I put it back in.  
3) I also noticed Nenya pointed this out, but I was coincidentally thinking the same thing she was, and that's that Sugoroku acts a little… well, like a kid. But I think it's because he's usually around kids and teens (after all, he owns a game shop) and he's sorta going through an extended second childhood, which is fine with me, but I believe he can also serve as the wisdom and voice of reason when needed.   
- YES, I did purposely upload this today because it's Seto's birthday. Nothing like a good crushing of the family jewels to celebrate:p


	7. Ch 7: Yami's Decision

Spoilers: none   
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Yami has to decide... stay or go?

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Re: Controlling Seto (dragonwrangler) - Yeah, blame Seto for the break up. Like I said, it wasn't supposed to happen. But when push came to shove and he got on that phone, he just had to open his big mouth and be an ass.  
- Re: Ms. Nozaka (Desi) - Mmm... er... hahahah! You'll see.  
- Re: Planning out a fic (mechante) - I never plan out my stories completely, but I usually know how long they will be and what the general things are that are supposed to take place. This time I'm just letting the boys write the story as it happens, with time being the only thing that they're being forced to conform to.

* * *

****

Aftershocks

Ch. 7: Yami's Decision

* * *

Yugi was out of Kaiba Corp. and nearly to his car in the parking structure before he began to process what he had just done. He had just kneed Seto Kaiba in the family jewels. That was technically assault. If Seto wanted to, he could call the cops on him. Or send one of his goons over for a little payback, though neither option were really his style. He would be much more likely to take his revenge out on Yugi himself. But Yugi didn't care about that... he knew that if he had to do it all over again, he would.

Tears threatened to well up in his eyes once more as he thought about how callous Seto was when he broke it off with Yami. Couldn't he have been a bit nicer? Didn't Yami deserve at least that much? And to do it over the phone? Yugi never imagined that Seto was such a coward. And he never imagined that Seto and Yami would ever break up either; who would throw away a bond like that for no reason? And speaking of reasons, Seto had never explained himself, had he?

Upon reaching the station wagon, the little duelist realized that he was still a bit too shaken to drive, so he just sat down in the driver's seat and shut his eyes. If he thought he was upset, how awful must Yami feel? Throwing himself wholly into their bond without even announcing himself, Yugi was horrified to realize that Yami was… crying. The strongest, bravest person he knew... in tears. And that nagging guilt that Yugi felt for what he had inadvertently done surged up like a tidal wave, overwhelming them both.

_Please don't… Yami…_ Yugi whispered into their link as he gave in to his own urge to cry. Even if he hadn't been emotionally worn out, he didn't think he would've been able to withstand the huge influx of Yami's misery feeding back into his mind.

The violet-eyed teen sat weeping on the second floor of the subterranean parking garage for a good five minutes before he was able to gather himself enough to stop the tears that were trickling down his cheeks. _Yami… I'm so, so sorry…_

For a moment there was nothing but a numb sensation pulsing off his other half, but Yami finally replied in a quiet voice, _For what?_

_What does he mean "for what?"_ Yugi thought to himself. _For the way Kaiba's been treating you and for the way he broke it off. I can't believe he turned out to be such a... a bastard!_

_… How did you know he broke up with me?_

Yugi suddenly paled. He had forgotten that he hadn't told Yami he was going to talk to Seto at Kaiba Corp. and now was left wondering if the former Pharaoh would be angry that he had just heard the entire phone conversation first hand. _Um… 'cause I just came from his office?_

_You were at… Why?_

_I wanted to talk to him. About you._

Yami sighed. _Then… you heard everything he said?_

_Yes, unfortunately. It was horrible the way he was speaking to you, as if the entire last year hadn't meant a thing at all to him! It made me so angry, I… I…_

_Aibou? What happened? _Yami's interest was stirred up a little.

_I, uh, kicked him in the balls. Well, not really kicked… it was more of a kneeing._ There was dead silence for nearly a minute. _Yami?_

_You… shouldn't have done that. _

_I know. I still can't believe it happened. _Yugi exhaled harshly. _I really wish I hadn't gone to talk to him at all, because I think I just made everything worse. But it worked the last time you two had problems, and I guess… I thought I could fix everything this time too._

_I don't see how you could have made it worse, Yugi. I know you were trying to help._

Yugi bit his lip; Yami was going to be furious when he found out that his other half had practically forced the young CEO into breaking things off. But he had to come clean… Yami deserved the truth. _I have a confession to make. Yami, I sorta pushed Kaiba into breaking up with you. _There was a choked sound of protest from the other side of the link, so Yugi hastily added, _But hear me out! He was just going to keep stringing you along and treating you like crap, so I told him he had a decision to make, and I guess he decided to take the coward's way out. You deserve someone so much better than Kaiba! Geez, now I totally regret ever sending you on that blind date. … Yami? You still there?_

The ex-spirit remained quiet for a long interval, then finally came back on with a heavy hearted sigh. _I have to go. The boys are home and… and I have things to do._

_Do you... need me to come help you pack?_

_I think… forgive me, Aibou, but you've done enough already today, _Yami said slowly before minimizing their link.

* * *

The first thing Noa and Mokuba did as soon as they got home was look for Yami; for once, they had some good news to deliver. They found him in the kitchen by the stove, propped up on a single crutch, stirring something in a large pot which filled the air with a spicy aroma.

As soon as Mokuba spotted the crimson-eyed duelist, he instantly yelled, "Hey Yami, Noa and I successfully hacked into our phone and internet accounts and we're back up with full access on both; isn't that awesome!" He bounced up onto his toes, waiting for Yami to turn around and say something, but the older teen didn't react at all. "Yami?"

Noa frowned. "Yami, you okay? Did something happen?"

Yami's shoulders trembled slightly, then dropped. "I… could you repeat that? Sorry…" he whispered, his voice hoarse.

The brothers exchanged worried glances, then Mokuba took a few tentative steps forward and placed his hand lightly on Yami's left shoulder before looking up at his face. H gasped in surprise as he realized Yami was on the verge of crying. Actually, from the pink nose and puffy, red-rimmed eyes, it was obvious that he had already been crying and was about to go for another round. "Yami, what happened!"

"Your… I… I'm making enough curry and rice that it… should last you a few days. Lasagne too," Yami said with noticeable effort, dropping his head a bit as Noa walked up on the other side.

The green-haired teen grabbed Yami's right arm to stop him from stirring the curry. "What? Did something happen between you and Nii-sama?"

"Yami, please… talk to us," Mokuba begged, his eyes already tearing up in sympathy.

"Seto… Seto said… he…" Yami lifted a shaking hand towards his face and hopped back a bit, barely managing to keep himself upright even as Noa tried to steady him.

"Otouto, can you grab a barstool or something? Yami, you need to sit down, take a deep breath, and tell us exactly what happened," Noa said, wrapping his arms around Yami's waist as Mokuba ran to comply. He had a bad feeling he already knew what Yami was going to say, but it wouldn't help matters any even if they were all weeping on the floor over it.

As soon as Mokuba brought a chair over, Noa urged Yami up onto the seat and went to fetch a box of tissues. And then the home phone rang.

_God, if it's Seto, I'm going to kill him, _Noa thought as he went to take the call. Surprisingly, the phone identified the incoming number as Nozaka's cellphone. "Hello? Hi… I'm fine, thanks… Wait, what do you mean? He what? And he fired you too?" Mokuba looked over at him, eyes wide. "For what? Seriously? Geez, at this rate there won't be any employees left at Kaiba Corp. Ms. Nozaka, you did the right thing… I'm just sorry Seto's a total prick. If you need… yes, well, if you need a letter of recommendation, we can write you one at least. You don't have to ask Seto for it. Well, Mokuba _is_ technically VP. … mmhmm. Okay. And… I'm really, really sorry. Good luck. We'll let you know if anything changes, but... Let us know if you need anything at all, all right? Yeah, you too. Bye."

"Noa…" Mokuba gasped, clinging tightly onto Yami's hand in concern.

The green-haired teen hung up and worried his lower lip between his teeth. "Seto just fired Ms. Nozaka and a bunch of guys from the building's security staff," he announced as he brought the box of tissues over. "I guess Yugi paid him a visit and he didn't appreciate it."

"Ra…" Yami moaned. As if he needed more bad news to deal with.

Mokuba shook his head, trying in vain to stop from crying. "So what happened, Yami? Please don't tell me that you… and Seto…"

Yami took a deep breath and spat out a response before he lost his nerve. "It's over. He wants me out by the end of the weekend." He slid off the barstool and began hobbling back over to the stove. "I'll make as much freezable food as I can before then."

The black-haired teen gulped as big tears began rolling down his cheeks. "That's it? You're just going to leave?"

"Mokuba, don't make this any harder for him than it already is," Noa whispered, grabbing his brother from behind and holding onto him tightly as the younger teen approached Yami with hands tightly clenched.

"No, I won't let him leave us! Yami, you promised you wouldn't give up on him! Yami!"

Sad crimson eyes peered over a slumped shoulder. "I… didn't. But it was his decision. And… this is his house. I can't stay."

"It's my house too and I'm telling you not to leave!" Mokuba yelled back, sniffling hard.

"Mokuba!" Noa admonished, then he forcibly dragged his brother over to the other side of the kitchen before saying in a hushed voice, "If Seto's seriously kicking him out, there's not much we can do about it."

"But… I don't want him to go! What are we going to do? What about our family!"

Noa winced and quelled his own urge to cry as he remembered bits and pieces of the bitter fights his parents used to have before their divorce. He had been really little then, but he could still remember the hateful words and long silences. That was what family had been to him, that and the memory of a once-loving father gone insane. He felt just as lost as his little brother at the moment, but since neither one of them knew what was going on in Seto's head, he could only make suggestions and hope that they'd be useful. "Remember what we talked about at school? I guess we can get that plan going. And… I dunno. We really need to get Seto to talk. Yami said he has till the end of the weekend to leave, so let's try and make good use of the time we have available, ne? I'm not going to stop trying, even if Yami does end up leaving, and neither should you." He went to grab a couple of tissues and handed them to Mokuba. "But yelling at Yami isn't going to help. He's really upset right now and even so, he's trying to take care of all of us. So we've got to be as supportive as we can, and give him all the backup he needs."

The black-haired teen rubbed at his eyes and glanced at the silent figure standing by the range, then slowly began approaching Yami after turning to give his brother a hug. "Thanks, Noa. You're right. The person I should be yelling at is Seto. It's his fault. Yami, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to get mad at you." He latched onto the older teen from behind and gave him a hug too, resting his chin on Yami's shoulder.

"You shouldn't yell at Seto. He's your brother; I'm just…" Yami began saying, swallowing hard.

Mokuba shook his head vigorously, shutting Yami up. "You're just the best thing that's ever happened to Nii-sama, that's what. We're not siding against him of course… this is for his own good."

"And besides, you're just as important to us. You don't always have to defend him, you know," Noa pointed out, also grabbing onto Yami for a hug but a little more mindful of the fading bruises on his back. "He may be our brother, but when he's acting like an ass, he's an ass. And he _needs _to be yelled at sometimes. End of discussion."

The three of them stood together quietly for a moment, then Mokuba piped up. "Gee Yami, were you always this short?"

"I'm not short," Yami protested, his brow furrowing. But the corners of his mouth twitched as if he were fighting off the urge to smile at Mokuba's timely observation.

"Mokuba, you make it sound like he's shrinking or something."

"Duh, no… I mean, I don't remember being this tall. At this rate, Yami will end up being the shortest guy in the house."

"I hope so," the ex-spirit replied in a soft tone.

Mokuba's eyes widened. "Does this mean…?"

"I'll… stay. For now. For you guys. And even if Seto forces me to leave, I'll keep trying. I don't want to give up on Seto; I can't give him up! I just hope… one of us can get through to him."

"Me too Yami, me too," Mokuba sighed, tightening his arms around the older teen.

* * *

Despite the way everything seemed to be spiraling out of control, Yami really couldn't stay mad at Yugi too long. After all, he knew his other half had only been trying to help. If instead of Seto, it had been someone else who was the recipient of Yugi's anger, Yami thought that he almost might have been amused at Yugi's unusual reaction. And he felt bad that after all the good things Yugi had done for him, he had cut him off and ended their conversation on such a bad note.

However, this was one problem that Yugi really couldn't help him solve, and before things got even worse, his aibou needed to understand that. Yami was a bit skeptical about how much even Noa and Mokuba would be able to assist him, but they were actually involved in the whole messy affair so he knew that he wouldn't be to dissuade them from interfering. Besides, Mokuba probably did have the best shot at getting Seto to at least talk to Yami, if only he could nail him down.

With his mind made up, Yami contacted Yugi while the two brothers rushed off to implement one of their plans. The fact that they wouldn't tell Yami what exactly they had planned was a little worrisome, but as farfetched as some of their ideas were, they somehow always seemed to work out in the end.

_Aibou? _Yami called out, hoping that Yugi wouldn't be too upset about what had transpired only an hour prior.

_Oh, Yami! _ Yugi's relief flooded their link. _I… I'm really, truly sorry. I really messed up this time. _

_It's okay; I know you were only trying to do what was best for me. I was just… it's been a shitty day. Still, I shouldn't have cut you off like that. It wasn't your fault._

_Wasn't my… of course it was my fault! I made Kaiba break up with you! _

_May I point out the obvious? It's nearly impossible to "make" Seto do anything that he doesn't want to do, _Yami mentioned wryly.

_You're… not mad? _Yugi gasped in disbelief.

_I'm… upset. But not with you. My life has gone to hell, so I can't help but be upset. But… I'm not any angrier with you than I am with Seto. How could I be? _

_How could you not?_

_Because your heart was in the right place, Yugi. And you've always looked out for me even when I made bad decisions, and I've made so many. Speaking of which… I've decided that I'm going to try and stick it out. If Seto wants me gone, he can shove me out the door himself with his own two hands. Maybe this is just another mistake that I'm making, but I have a feeling that maybe Seto's doing the same thing you're doing. Maybe his heart is in the right place, but… what's the saying? He can't see the forest for the trees? Aibou, even though his logic is faulty, I believe that for whatever reason he thinks he doing the right thing, and that's what's important. I can't hate him for that, even if I can't figure out why he's behaving this way._

Yugi gave a heavy sigh. _I hope you're right and that he's not doing this just 'cause he's a jerk. But he's a fool to not realize how badly this is affecting you. It hurts me so much to know that you're in so much pain, Yami. I can't stand it._

_Well, if this were you and me and I was acting strangely and pushing you away, would you give up on me? Or would you stay by my side?_

Yugi was speechless for a moment. _I hope one day Kaiba realizes how lucky he is to have gotten you as a boyfriend,_ he finally said in all sincerity._ And you know I'll always be on your side no matter what. Look… if this is really what you want to do Yami, I'll be behind you every step of the way and I promise I won't interfere again unless you want me to, okay?_

_Thank you… that means the world to me, Aibou. I couldn't go on if I lost your support as well. You're my optimism and my strength._

_Well, I'm trying to remain optimistic, but… aw hell, but nothing. I know you can do it, Yami! And if you need me to kick Kaiba in the nuts again, I'll be glad to volunteer!_

Yami couldn't help but chuckle at Yugi's enthusiasm. _That's the spirit. But no more kicking… I need those parts in working order once Seto and I make up._

_Gee, thanks for sharing that. Nice to know your mind is in the right place._

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:    
- I wasn't going to make Seto or Yami cry in this fic (or EVER, 'cause I just can't stand seeing strong charas sobbing) but after I thought about it, Yami did break down in tears in canon during the Orichalcos Doom arc after he lost Yugi's soul to the Orichalcos, so therefore, Yami crying isn't OOC. And I guess if anything else could make him cry, this would be it. But me still no likey. Thanks to Rekall, Dragon and Nenya for helping me make up my mind on that.  
- Yeah, Mokie and Noa are growing up. Poor Yami will end up being the shortest guy in the house pretty soon at the rate they're going to start growing at.  
- I have no idea what happened to Noa's mom. She's shown briefly at his funeral. But since you don't see her in any of the other flashbacks, I'd have to wager she wasn't really around very much, so divorce seems like a good possibility (doesn't it seem like everyone in YGO has divorced or single parents or something? - they're like a bunch of little lost orphans with cash and no need for school.)  
- Woah, mood swings. Bad things happen, everyone's depressed and crying, then things get all light and airy. Like I said, emotional roller coaster. I hope no one vomits from all the turbulence :p But if you think this is a sign that things are getting better, may I remind you to keep your seat belts fastened and your arms in the car at all times… this ride may not be over yet…


	8. Ch 8: The Flame

Spoilers: some reference to Pharaoh's Memory / Ancient Egypt arc  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Friends from overseas get involved.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- I'm glad no one threw a fit over Yami crying. I guess it wasn't as bad as I feared. I didn't want him to act like a girl, but since he's NOT Seto, I couldn't imagine him just sitting there stoically and accepting the break up as if it never mattered to him. Seto crying is another matter... let's just say he's crying on the inside, okay?  
- Re: Stepshipping (mechante) - Ack, no! LOL. Probably a REALLY bad idea to get Seto's attention that way at this time. And the Halloween fic was just me tipping my hat to the idea of Stepshippy... frankly it really isn't there but then again it is and always has been. And that's the fun of it :D

* * *

**Aftershocks**

**Ch. 8: The Flame**

* * *

Seto didn't come home that evening. And he didn't come home the next evening, or the evening after that. At least he had called Mokuba to let him know that he had a "business thing" which would take up the entire weekend, though everyone in the household knew that the young CEO was lying and probably hiding out at a hotel or something. But Yami was concerned about his boyfriend's behavior, if he could even still refer to him that way. How was he supposed to have a heart-to-heart with Seto if he was avoiding his own home for days at a time?

"I'm telling you, the solution is simple. Just move to America and you can be my third boyfriend," Valon was suggesting over the new cellphone Mokuba had picked up to replace Yami's old one. "I'd treat you good, mate."

"No thanks, I'm not looking forward to dying at Rafael's hands," Yami replied, thankful for the mindless banter and the mundane chore of folding laundry on the bed, his leg propped up on a pillow while he worked. It was funny how even a small thing like sorting laundry could bring a bit of normalcy back into a life that was currently anything but. There were so many little things he missed, like his usual morning runs with Jou and Honda, being able to drive himself around to visit friends, quickies in the morning with Seto... the way the color of Seto's eyes darkened slightly when he was aroused in anger or in passion, and the way his pale skin flushed as…

_STOP that! _Yami berated himself. He knew it was doing him no good to worry about whether or not Seto would come home now that the weekend was nearly over. Might as well worry about why the sky was blue. But Yami couldn't help it.

Valon's hearty laugh shook the former Pharaoh out of his stupor, and his mind tried to pick up the words that were coming through the earpiece. "… dy bear. But honestly, I'd think that Rafael would want to have a go at you too. And Amelda wouldn't care either way."

Yami stifled a sigh, angry at himself for getting so distracted by his melancholy. Not that he wanted the carefree, commitment-free life that Valon was living. While it sounded nice to be able to have multiple relationships without any real boundaries, it wasn't what he wanted OR needed. He liked Seto's jealous nature and he liked feeling just as possessive of Seto. He couldn't imagine sharing him with another man. "But I would care, Valon."

"Yeah, I guess you would. You'd be too high maintenance anyways… Kaiba's probably spoiled you rotten. The mansion, the vacation house, the Porsche…"

_I'd give up all that in a heartbeat if it meant that Seto would just give me chance to talk to him,_ the crimson-eyed teen thought morosely, but since Valon seemed to be waiting for a response to his observation, he said, "Hey, you got a yacht and a beachfront home AND a new custom bike, since you wrecked the last one. So don't complain. Besides, if you wanted another boyfriend, Pegasus certainly looked interested."

"Ah, you mean my sugar daddy? Nah, he's my boss - he gives me cash even though I don't put out," Valon joked. "And between you and me…I couldn't handle another boyfriend. I just want a spunk for the occasional root on the side, you know?"

"Um, okay." He had no clue what the Aussie had just said, but from context the ex-spirit had a pretty good idea of what he was referring to.

"Ah, damn it! I have to go. Amelda's been screaming about din… OKAY, I said I'll be right down!! God, you'd think he was my mum or something."

Yami managed a weak chuckle at that, although he couldn't help but be a bit envious that things were going so well for the three former Doom members. "All right then, I'll talk to you later. Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, you too! And… good luck, Yami."

* * *

Seto sat at his desk and rubbed his forehead, trying to will away the persistent headache which had been bothering him all weekend. It wouldn't go away, no matter how much aspirin he took. Perhaps it would have helped if he slept a little more, but sleep wasn't coming easily to him as of late, and the fact that he had been staying in a suite at the KaibaLand Hotel instead of his own bed made his insomnia even worse.

With a growl of frustration, he stood up and walked over to the wall of large windows behind his desk, looking out over the urban sprawl far below. So many people going about their daily routines… he wondered how many of them were in the middle of a nasty break up? How many were watching their lives fall apart, watching because it felt like there was nothing they could do to stop it from happening?

It was too bad about Isono. What was the man thinking, picking apart his instructions like that? He _knew_ what Seto had expected but then had to go and be stupid for no apparent reason. Fubeta would take over his position, but it wasn't quite the same without Isono around. And what would he do about replacing Nozaka? She had been a damn good secretary… hard working, punctual, intelligent, not prone to standing around and gossiping like many of the employees… until she pulled an Isono on him as well.

The cellphone suddenly rang, and Seto stalked back to his desk to pick it up. Now why was Pegasus calling him on a Sunday afternoon? It had to be late Saturday night in California, and he knew for a fact that the man believed in weekends off.

"Well, hello Kaiba-boy!" Pegasus said in greeting when Seto finally decided to take the call.

Seto ground his teeth and picked up his wireless earpiece, setting the phone down and glaring at it while irrationally wishing he could reach through it and throttle the man on the other side. "So I take it that this is a social call, and not business related."

"Hmm… neither."

"Oh, so you're drunk then and decided to crank call me, is that it? Why don't you call one of your fuck buddies and play with their minds instead?"

"Fuck buddies? That's so vulgar. I'm not drunk, and this isn't a crank call. It's also not a business call, but I can't say I'm trying to be sociable either."

Pegasus' roundabout explanation just made Seto's head throb more. "Just tell me what you want so we can end this call sooner rather than later."

"Tsk tsk. So rude. I actually called you as a favor."

"A favor to who?" _If he says Yami, or Yugi, or…_

"To you of course. See, Yami has been calling Valon, and Valon's a bit, mm… talkative, so now I've decided that my intervention is necessary."

"No thanks. Not interested. Bye." The brunette reached up to end the call, but just before his finger pressed down the button, Pegasus' entire demeanor changed.

"Kaiba, I warned you, didn't I?"

Seto's hand stilled. He hadn't heard Pegasus use that tone of voice since Duelist Kingdom, and it sent an involuntary shiver up his spine. "Warned me about what?" he had to ask, wondering if there was a veiled threat somewhere in there.

"I told you, you have a good thing going with Yami. Or I guess the more appropriate word now would be _had._ I told you to not mess up. So… how do you like sleeping alone, Kaiba?"

"Shut the fuck up." The pad of his finger made contact with the disconnect button.

"I bet you're barely sleeping at all. And you probably have a constant migraine and no appetite. I know it's hard to adjust when something that seems to have always been there just vanishes from your life. But my Cyndia is dead. And your Yami is alive, so at least you have the opportunity to..."

_He's alive and he's going to stay alive thanks to me. _"You don't know a thing about me," Seto seethed, a little unnerved by Pegasus' insight into the situation.

"Hmph. I do know that I've been very generous in allowing you to use _my_ Duel Monsters designs in your products and theme park for a simple flat fee as opposed to charging you royalties on top of that. And our contract is up for renegotiations soon." The silver-haired man's voice was darker than ever. "There's a European company that makes a similar product to your Duel Disks, or so I've heard. Wouldn't it be a shame if I released the card specs to Schroider Corp. first? Even with your brilliant programming abilities it would take you months to catch up, which would negatively impact your profits I'd imagine."

"You're threatening my company?" Seto yelled, jumping to his feet in shock and anger. _What's the game, Pegasus? Why do you care what I do with my life? _

"I'm afraid so. See, I'm good at this sort of thing, and I know what your buttons are," Pegasus said smugly.

The younger CEO snarled and pounded his fist on his desk. "How dare you drag my personal life into our business dealings! It's none of your business if I chose to break up with Yami! I'm not you! This is not your life!!"

"Of course not. I wouldn't be so stupid to throw away something so valuable. Unless your money is all you're really concerned about, in which case, I've totally misread you."

"Don't think for a minute that you can read me. You don't have the Eye anymore, Pegasus!!"

"This time, I didn't need it." Then Pegasus sighed and his voice softened. "Please, Kaiba… think about what you're doing. I shouldn't have to make idle threats to force you to listen. I know I'm intruding and that this really doesn't concern me, but the extraordinary bond between you and Yami, well… it isn't something which can simply be discarded or ignored. Quite frankly, I'm jealous. I didn't think I'd find two people more in love than Cyndia and me."

Pegasus spoke of love so easily it was frightening, and Seto shuddered at the mere thought of it. "That's nice. Go fuck yourself." He ended the call before the other CEO could get out another word.

* * *

It was nearly 3:00 AM when a weary Seto finally decided to leave his office and begin heading home. He didn't even remember why he had decided to stay so late; it was out of habit, he supposed. After all, Yami would have been packed and gone at least three hours prior, so the only people he could possibly be hiding from were Noa and Mokuba. And it wasn't like he had a reason to hide from them. He didn't need to explain himself to them. After all, wasn't he the big brother? The adult in the household?

But as he pulled his car out of the parking structure and onto sparsely populated city streets, he considered how the break up was affecting his brothers. He knew that both Mokuba and Noa had grown attached to Yami. It was a mistake he should have never made in the first place, a mistake he would not make again, especially considering he had no plans to get back into the dating scene any time soon, if ever. He just hoped they would both understand and accept it, especially Mokuba, but at the same time, he knew if Mokuba really chose to push for an explanation, he would cave. He could never deny Mokuba anything. Which lead back to thinking about why he was driving home at an ungodly hour and why he was spending his days hiding in his office. Not that he was really hiding.

Engrossed in his thoughts and driving on auto-pilot, Seto didn't even notice when he blew through a red light, but unfortunately for him a cop did, which earned him a ticket. The brunette was so exhausted and numb by that point that he didn't even bother getting angry over it. Nothing like a cherry on top of a sundae of bad luck, after all.

Tired and upset over the wreck that was his life, Seto finally arrived home and dragged himself up the stairs to his bedroom. Flicking on the lights out of habit, he began shedding his clothing as he walked, haphazardly tossing random pieces onto the floor as he headed for the bathroom. But just as he reached the door, something clicked in his head and he turned, feeling a surge of anger mixed with relief at the sight before him.

Yami. Sleeping soundly and curled up on his side of the… in his bed. Seto shook his head, frustrated. It was like time had rewound… didn't he see this exact sight a week prior? Was Yami really so dense that he couldn't understand that the relationship was over and that he was no longer welcome at the mansion? Why was he torturing him like this?

He really ought to just rouse the younger duelist, stuff him in a car, and have someone take him home. That was the proper thing to do. But as soon as his hand touched down on Yami's bare shoulder, he felt as if he had thrust it into a live flame, the heat from the slender body licking up every nerve and burning away his resolve. All he could think about was warm, smooth skin and memories of caresses and kisses, and to his dismay, his fingers automatically began stroking and kneading Yami's shoulder. He could barely remember the last time he found anything so fascinating.

It wasn't fair, not that Seto had ever expected life to be fair, but still… was it really too much to ask for things to go right just this once? He felt so cold both inside and out and yet lying there within the cause of his misery was all the warmth he could ever want. He wanted to give in and just sink under the covers and find solace in Yami's arms… it was so tempting and he was beyond tired, but just as his knees began giving out, his mind was flooded once again by the dreadful memories that had been chasing him relentlessly the past three weeks. The Pharaoh's soulless body as it crumpled to the ground… his pregnant mother crying in pain as she was wheeled into a hospital emergency room, never to return again… Mokuba's cries and the wails of the sirens as the police told him his father was dead… his grandfather's fatal heart attack at his father's funeral… the sound of the shattering Puzzle…

Seto took a deep breath and shakily tried to push himself away from the bed, but his mind wouldn't allow him to forget. _Yami… help me…_

… Three millennia passing by and a dark tomb somewhere beneath the sands of Egypt... Yami lying bruised and still on the hospital bed… his aunt Kazuko diagnosed with cancer and his uncle Ichiro calling him and Mokuba a curse on the family, using that as an excuse to steal away their inheritance and dump them at the orphanage… Mokuba losing his soul at Duelist Kingdom, being turned into stone in Noa's virtual world, and then there was Death-T…

Seto's broke out in a cold sweat as a chill swept through his body. _God, Mokuba…_ That gave him the strength to rise back up on his feet, though he could feel how weak his legs were as they threatened to collapse yet again. He was horrified that he had wavered, had been tempted to give in and satisfy his own desires. And then what? For a moment's worth of peace and security Yami would die, and once Mokuba grew up and moved on as he would eventually do, he'd be left alone with nothing but his guilt. Knowing that he was destined to be alone was something he thought he had come to terms with. But then Yami had to come along and wedge himself into his life, and the wondrous sensations he brought along with him had been so beguiling…

He was such a fool, such a weak, selfish fool for falling for his rival in the first place. And worse yet, he still couldn't bring himself to kick Yami out now that he was so comfortably ensconced in the bed… he'd have to deal with him the following day. But he was just so tired and… and…

In mid-thought, his body finally gave out and Seto practically dropped where he stood. With great effort he managed to crawl into bed and fell asleep before he even got under the covers.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- Re: title of this chapter. Originally I was going to work in the lyrics of Cheap Trick's "The Flame" into this chapter, but without an obvious place to put them, I decided to just toss them here in the A/Ns (deleted for ffnet... they are in the original version of the fic posted on my site). But I kept the title anyways.  
- Re: Aussie slang. "Spunk" an attractive person, "Root" fuck.  
- I made up the part about Seto's extended family because I'm mean. Obviously there's a point to all this, which I think is pretty clear by now, but if it isn't, it'll be cleared up by the end of the fic.


	9. Ch 9: Delay Tactics

Spoilers: none  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Noa and Mokuba's lives are affected by the break up as well.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Um, no specific responses this time, except now everyone's confused and that's confusing me and... ;; LOL! Naw, it'll get sorted out in due time (when I figure it out myself - eep!) And the reason for Pegasus' phone call will be explained in this chapter (and if you're still confused, I spell it out in the A/Ns).

* * *

****

Aftershocks

Ch. 9: Delay Tactics

* * *

Seto was tired enough to sleep for a whole day and night, but when the alarm went off a little less than two hours later, he got up anyways, glad to see that as usual, Yami slept right through the song on the radio. But he paused to gaze at the ex-spirit longingly, imprinting the vision into his memory… since he was determined to have Yami out of the house by the end of the day, he'd never wake up to such a sight again.

He shook his head at the realization. He was beginning to feel sorry for himself, and that was not a good thing. At least Yami, being prime boyfriend material, would be able to go on and find a lucky new lover who would be blessed with the privilege of waking up next to him every morning, but he'd have nothing but an empty bed. The knowledge that Yami was okay, was moving on to something better… that should have been enough. But it wasn't.

Seto granted himself the right to run his fingers lightly through Yami's hair one last time, then forced himself to get up and get dressed without looking back.

* * *

Yami wasn't surprised to wake up alone yet again. But at least he was still in the house even though Seto's deadline had passed which meant that either Seto had changed his mind, which was unlikely, or that he was confused and unable to decide what to do.

Rolling slowly over onto his side, Yami sighed. The whole situation was just fucked up. But oddly enough, Yami was almost thankful for what Yugi had inadvertently done, for it had helped him rethink the situation and renewed his faith in Seto's heart. He was now positive that whatever it was that Seto was trying to accomplish, he wasn't doing it to hurt him, at least, not purposefully. Although he had been half-asleep at the time, he had felt the gentle fingers combing through his hair, and that was all the proof he needed. Seto still cared.

Bolstered by that thought, Yami got himself up and began to get ready to start his day. But being a realist as well, he knew that he would have to confront Seto that evening to try and resolve matters. Enough was enough. He wanted his lover back.

* * *

Mokuba wondered how much longer all the Seto and Yami drama would last, because if it didn't get resolved soon, it was really going to affect his grades. Certainly he didn't mean to forget about the Bio test that morning, nor the essay for World History that had been due that past Friday.

But, if he were honest with himself, he didn't really give a damn about any of that stuff. Seto didn't graduate high school and look at where he ended up - CEO of Kaiba Corp. One of the wealthiest, most successful businessmen in the world. But then again, Seto probably wasn't the best person to look up to at the moment. Just because he was a genius and a billionaire didn't mean that he was happy, and those two things certainly weren't going to prevent him from ending up alone. Mokuba really was a little surprised that Seto hadn't tossed Yami out since he had apparently stopped by the mansion some time during night, but that was a good thing. He just wasn't sure how long that bit of luck would last. And he was also surprised that Yami hadn't just gotten fed up with Seto's bullshit and walked, but then again, he knew that Yami loved Seto. He just hadn't realized how much. It was too bad that Seto was blind when it came to that little fact.

What was Yami to him anyways? Not a brother, not really a parent - even though he played the part… but he was a member of their family nevertheless even if there wasn't a word to accurately describe him. He was just the person who took care of them all, especially Seto, who really needed it. He was the one who convinced Seto to eat and work regular hours, who got him to sleep at least six hours a night, who made him relax and smile like no one else could…

"Mokuba."

The black-haired teen broke out of his musings and turned towards his brother. It was amazing how a few random thoughts could distract a person from his lunch and the voices of thousands of chattering students. "Huh?"

Noa tossed his head at an unopened bag of chocolate frosted cookies. "Are you going to eat those?"

Sighing, Mokuba pushed the bag at Noa, who immediately tore into it. "Well, since Pegasus wasn't able to make much headway with that phone call… Nii-sama's going to try and kick Yami out tonight, isn't he?"

"Probably. But we won't let him succeed."

"How would we stop him? Handcuff Yami to the bedpost? Handcuff ourselves to Yami? He'd just get someone to come pick the lock."

Noa couldn't help but chuckle as he nibbled on a cookie. "I don't think we'd have to go that far. If he shows up at a decent hour, I say we lock them in the bedroom till they talk things through, and if not… well, maybe we could sleep in the doorway or something. I doubt that he'd go as far as throwing Yami off the balcony."

Mokuba's face scrunched up at that. "Geez, he better not! Maybe we should handcuff Yami to the bed, just to be safe."

"Uh… you really have a thing for cuffs, huh?"

"A thing for…" Mokuba's eyes widened. "That sounds so, SO wrong. Now I'm thinking about Seto's so-called 'secret' stash of… damn. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome." The green-haired teen grinned, happy to have gotten his brother out of his funk, even if only temporarily. "Don't worry about it… even if our current plans fail, we've got plenty more on backup. Something's bound to work sooner or later."

* * *

The rest of the day after school passed in what had frighteningly become routine for the younger teens. They got home and plotted and planned their next move under the guise of doing homework. Yami spoke briefly to a few friends on the phone and fixed dinner. Seto was once again a no-show.

The crimson-eyed teen stayed up to watch some television with Noa and Mokuba after the brothers had finished their actual homework, intending to simply pass time while waiting for Seto to arrive home. But as the hours passed and the throbbing in his leg turned into outright pain, Yami finally caved, took his pills, and headed off to bed.

Mokuba waited until Yami left the room, then turned to Noa. "Crap, I can't believe Nii-sama hasn't shown up. I was so sure he'd come home at a decent hour today just so he could throw Yami out."

"I guess we'll switch to our backup plan then."

"You sure?" Mokuba asked, still a bit skeptical about how successful they'd be. Noa nodded. "Well… you go tell him."

"Me?"

"Yeah you. You're the older one and it's your plan..."

Noa sighed and headed up the stairs with Mokuba close behind. At his little brother's urging, the green-haired teen slowly pushed the door to Seto's bedroom open and stuck his head around the corner just enough to see the bed. Sure enough, Yami was still awake and struggling to sit up in bed, his eyes trained expectantly at a spot about six feet off the ground. "Seto, we need to… oh. Hi Noa."

Noa frowned at the worried look on Yami's face. "Sorry. Um… there's uh… we wanted to…"

"Hmm?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes and followed Noa in. "Yami, we were just in our room and we spotted a rat. Can we sleep in here tonight?"

"A rat?"

_A rat! _"Yeah, it was huge," Noa added lamely, turning just enough to glare at his younger brother for the farfetched lie.

"Freakin' huge!" Mokuba held his hands out about a foot apart.

"Well, I guess that'll be all right… does it matter whose bed I take?" Yami began reaching for his crutches, but Mokuba grabbed them first.

"NO! I mean… you need to stay here too. In case the rat…" Mokuba looked to Noa for help.

_Damn it, why me?_ "Uh, well, I've heard stories about rats eating people, you know?" Noa blurted out, desperately searching for something convincing. "And they have fleas, and the fleas can carry um… bubonic plague and…"

The former Pharaoh considered the brothers carefully, then sighed as he wiggled over to the center of the bed, lifting the edge of the comforter in invitation. The younger teens quickly shut up and scrambled into the bed, Mokuba to the left of Yami, Noa on the right.

"Thanks Yami!" Mokuba chirped, getting himself settled in.

Yami yawned, then smiled slightly at what the pair were trying to do, though if Seto really were determined to get rid of him, even Mokuba's presence in the bedroom wouldn't be enough. "There's… no rat, is there?"

Noa snorted. "Oh, there's a rat all right. He's just not home yet."

Mokuba rolled his eyes but didn't say anything to contradict Noa's assessment of their big brother. Hopefully Noa was right and this plan of his would work… "Boy, this is like a sleepover or something. Why haven't we done this before?"

"Because it would've been like getting in the way of two gay, hormone-laden bull elephants during mating season?"

"Oh yeah. Nasty."

Yami groaned and pulled the covers up over his head as the pair continued their back and forth banter. Where on Earth did they learn this stuff? "If you two… are going to stay, can you keep it down? Please?" He was starting to feel the effects of the medication, but at least the pain in his leg was down to a tolerable level, just sort of a mild discomfort really.

"Sorry," Noa whispered.

"Me too," Mokuba added quietly.

"Good night, boys. And if Seto… if Seto comes home, can you… mmm, nevermind…"

* * *

Seto hadn't intended to leave Kaiba Corp. so late, but since he had literally passed out from exhaustion at his desk some time in the early evening and then slept for some hours after that, he didn't manage to get home until after 1:00 AM. That put him in a bit of a jam… he knew if he didn't get Yami out that evening, his resolve might crumble completely, and he couldn't let that happen. But he really didn't want to have to wake Yami and force him to leave while he was disoriented and drowsy with sleep.

Feeling barely coherent himself, Seto headed up to his bedroom with the intention of waking Yami despite his misgivings and driving him back to the Kame Game Shop himself, but when he got into the bedroom and turned on the lights, he got a huge surprise.

_What the…?_ The brunette jerked back as a mop of black hair lifted off his pillow and a pair of gray eyes opened and blinked sleepily at him. "Mokuba?" Taking a step back, he looked more carefully at the bed, and noticed Noa sleeping face down on the other side of the bed with Yami snoozing blissfully in between the two younger teens. _What in the world are those two doing in my bed?_

Before Seto had a chance to ponder the situation further, Mokuba scowled and whispered, "If you're here to kick Yami out, I won't let you!"

"Mok…"

"I swear if you wake him up, I'll… I'll kick you in the nuts!"

The young CEO started at the threat and unconsciously dropped his hand to shield his previously tenderized privates. Mokuba had never spoken to him like that before, _ever_. "But… it's my bed."

"And it's your boyfriend's too." As if on cue, Yami groaned and rolled towards the right, the sheets sliding off his shoulder. "He was up till midnight waiting to talk to you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

"He's not my boyfriend. And I had… work," Seto said unconvincingly, his voice thick with guilt at Mokuba's accusatory tone.

"Bullshit. If you don't want to make up with him, go sleep somewhere else." Mokuba rolled over and turned his back towards his brother, then pulled the blankets back up over Yami's arm.

Uncertain of what he ought to do, Seto ended up wandering out of the room and crashing in one of the downstairs guest bedrooms for the remainder of the night.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:    
-In case it wasn't obvious enough, Mokuba and Noa were the ones who got Pegasus to call Seto the previous chapter. Wasn't just Pegsy interfering out of the blue, 'k?


	10. Ch 10: The Inevitable Confrontation

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Seto finally decides to tackle the issue head-on and confronts Yami.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- No specific responses, but once again I'd like to thank everyone for all the comments and reviews... I'm happy people are sticking with this fic. This is one of those chapters I was really looking forward to writing, but as always, it got away from me a bit. Hope the results are um... well, no hate mail okay? But I do want to know what my readers think, especially since I have not decided on what exactly will happen in the next chapter because I'm curious as to how people will react to this one.

* * *

**Aftershocks**

**Ch. 10: The Inevitable Confrontation**

* * *

_Poke. Poke._

"Wake. Up. I have to go to school."

Yami's brow wrinkled as his sleepy mind wondered why Seto was poking him like that, and why his voice sounded a bit… different. But he was warm and comfortable, so what did it really matter?

"Yami. Seriously. You have to let go of me."

"Nooo, Setooo…" Wow, it sure was nice for Seto to actually let him cuddle considering the fact that he had broken up with him.

There was an exasperated puff of air which ruffled his bangs. "Yami, I'm not Seto. I'm Mokuba."

"Mmhmm… MokuBA?" Yami's eyes snapped open and he realized much to his mortification that he had wrapped his limbs around the amused younger teen like a boa constrictor.

"Yeah. Don't you remember? You let us stay in your bed last night."

"I did? I… guess I did." Yami let go and rolled over as he heard footsteps on the carpet behind him, but it was just Noa, already dressed in his school uniform.

"Morning. Everyone sleep okay?"

The ex-spirit considered the question. He felt pretty well rested, though he was disappointed that Seto hadn't bothered to come home yet again. "I'm okay, thanks."

"Geez, are you like that when you sleep with Nii-sama?" Mokuba grumbled, scrambling out of bed, pausing to throw Yami a wink to assure him that he was just joking. "You're like a cross between an octopus and an electric blanket."

Noa snorted. "I bet Seto likes being molested in his sleep."

Yami flushed. "I wasn't… I didn't… never mind!" He shook his head. Sometimes the brothers were just a bit too clever for their own good. But as his mind woke up and sharpened, he remembered the reason why the pair had come to the bedroom last night, and his mood soured. "Seto… he didn't come home again last night."

Mokuba sat back down on the bed and looked him in the eye. "He did. But it was really, really late. And uh… I kicked him out."

"You did what? Oh man, you're so grounded, Mokuba," Noa said, chuckling at his brother's gumption despite the seriousness of the situation.

Yami shook his head. "Mokuba, I can't believe you did that."

"Well, I did. I told you we'd stand by you, right?"

* * *

_Yami delicately plucked a banana slice from Seto's fingers while he slipped his own fingers through the brunette's hair. The promised massage had degraded into something more like a scalp rub; Yami had found out the hard way that his leg was too sore for him to stand on. Presently the shorter teen was sitting on the floor with his injured leg propped up on some decorative pillows. He was leaning against the longest sofa in the room, stroking his lover's hair over and over, while Seto slowly fed him every other piece of fruit. And Seto was lying belly-down on the sofa with a blanket, his eyes closed in exhaustion, purring faintly at the feel of Yami's touch and the taste of fruit and chocolate in his mouth… and the sound of chirping crickets..._

_Wait, crickets?_

Seto awoke to the sound of the intercom beeping at his desk. Disgusted with himself for having fallen asleep in his office yet again and more importantly, pissed off for having been disturbed in the middle of the first nice dream he'd had in weeks, he hit the button and snarled, "What!" at the woman on the other end of the line.

"S… sorry, Mr. Kaiba," she stammered. "Um, I have…"

Seto rubbed his face in frustration and wondered why he had chosen to spare this particular woman from being laid off yesterday when her former boss, some mid-level weasel in accounting, was unceremoniously fired for downloading porn during work hours. He supposed it was his benevolent act of the week… or perhaps he had just been that desperate for a secretary. "Just spit it out, Ms. Shiroi."

"Mr. Ueno from Duel On magazine on line... 2, sir. "

The young CEO cursed under his breath. The man was just some overzealous reporter type who liked digging for breaking news on dueling equipment, which meant he was useful at times and a major pain in the ass otherwise. Not the type of person he wanted to talk to at the moment. Shaking his head slightly, he glanced over at the clock. Just a bit past lunchtime. There was no point in staying… he wasn't going to be able to accomplish any work at this rate. Might as well take advantage of the fact that Mokuba and Noa were off at school and get rid of Yami before they got home. "Tell him I'm not available to take his call right now. As a matter of fact, I'll be leaving the office in a few minutes, so I don't want to be disturbed again, is that clear?"

"Yes… of course, sir."

* * *

After so many nights had passed with Seto arriving home late, Yami certainly wasn't expecting him to show up in the middle of the afternoon, standing calmly in the foyer as if nothing were amiss. But after the initial shock wore off, Yami supposed it made sense. Seto wasn't dumb enough to keep trying to throw him out while his brothers were at home to run interference, so it really was a logical move. 

They both stared wordlessly at each other for a very long minute, then Seto dropped his briefcase and began shedding his trench coat. "We should talk," he said blandly as he hung the coat on the rack near the door.

"Yes."

"In my office then." Seto brushed by Yami and headed up the stairs with swift strides. Yami sighed. He was hoping to get a better read on the taller duelist before beginning a discussion with him, but if Seto had decided that now was the time, he wasn't going to protest. So he began carefully making his way up the steps and heading down the long hallway that led to Seto's office.

The brunette was standing by the window, gazing out at the manicured landscape with a slightly distracted look on his face. But as soon as he spotted Yami, he clamped down on even that small hint of emotion and smoothed his expression into one of indifference, as if he were about to begin some sort of business transaction.

Yami frowned at that and opened his mouth to speak, but Seto cut him off. "Why are you still here?"

_Because I love you and I don't want to lose you. _"Because… I want to know why…" Damn. It was hard. Now that he had the opportunity to try and get some answers, Yami didn't know what to ask first. He finally settled for asking, "I want to know why you decided to break up with me. Why you cut yourself off. What happened? Did I do something wrong?" He couldn't help but wonder if Seto was upset over the fact that he hadn't been able to prevent Mokuba from getting injured in the earthquake even though he had done his best under the circumstances.

_You did nothing wrong, Yami._ Seto really didn't want Yami to blame himself for what had happened, since it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with Seto's own bad luck. "I really don't need to explain my reasons to you, but… it wasn't you. It was me," he said in reassurance as Yami's eyes searched his face for something more substantial. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Seto…" Yami leaned up against a chair which was facing the desk, hoping that it would keep him propped up better than the crutches would for what would possibly be an extended discussion. "You still owe me an explanation."

"No, I don't."

"I'm not going anywhere until I understand the reasoning behind the break up, and even then..."

"There is nothing _to_ understand," Seto ground out, already feeling his carefully crafted mask slipping out of frustration. It had been a bad idea to try and confront Yami head-on; he had hoped that the shorter teen would just accept what little explanation he could give and leave, but now he realized that that wouldn't happen. What a foolish mistake.

"So that's it? You're breaking up with me for no reason at all? I don't believe you… you think I would just accept that and walk away? I can't do that, Seto. You… we… our relationship means so much to me."

"Our 'relationship' is over. Shit, you're just making things harder for yourself, you know."

"I'm making… you don't come home, you're apparently not sleeping, not eating…"

"None of which concerns you!" the brunette yelled, stepping away from the window. How dare Yami worry about his health and habits at a time like this? "I told you, it's over! Get that into your fucking head! Or did you lose most of your brain cells when you got knocked out!"

Yami fought to control his own temper. As tempting as it was to get into a verbal brawl with the fiery young billionaire, he knew that it would accomplish nothing in the end. And he wanted, no, _needed_ to understand… Seto was trying to push him away so hard, but why? "You know I understand what 'breaking up' entails, but…" He sighed, then continued on in a whisper, "Do you really hate me that much?"

Seto faltered for a moment, surprised at the question and at Yami's restraint when he could barely keep his own emotions in check. _No, I could never hate you. I wish you understood that I'm doing this to… _No, he couldn't tell Yami the truth. The former Pharaoh would insist on staying by his side and then… _Damn it! I don't want to do this, but…_ "Yes, I hate you." _I hate you for getting involved with someone like me. I hate you for making me feel for you, for making me worry about you, for showing me a future that I can't be a part of. I hate you because you're going to leave me, and I don't want you to go. _

Crimson eyes widened and for a moment, Seto wondered if Yami was going to start crying, but then thick lashes swept down and hid the pained look away from his sight. "You don't hate me," Yami said in a low voice. "You don't mean that. And even if you did… I still can't hate you."

Seto's heart clenched at Yami's words and his stomach began its sickeningly familiar churning. It would've been easier if the shorter teen had just burst into tears and ran out of the room, but then it wouldn't have been Yami, would it? Still, he had to get him to leave somehow… and then the glint of silver caught Seto's eye. _Yes, that would do it, wouldn't it?_ "Yeah, whatever. And by the way… I want that back." He reached his hand up to his throat and Yami mimicked the movement, breath catching as his fingers brushed against the leather and titanium collar around his neck.

Yami's fingertip's unconsciously traced the letters on the nameplate. "No." He hopped back a step, his eyes searching Seto's waist for the corresponding belt buckle that bore his name, but Seto wasn't wearing it. In fact, it looked like he was wearing his old KC logo belt. "Where…"

Seto smirked when he realized what the younger duelist was looking at, though inwardly it pained him to see the hurt and betrayal that was flashing through Yami's eyes. "I threw it away," he lied, forcing his voice to remain steady.

"You… Seto, you didn't!"

"Hn. It was mine to do with as I pleased. As is that silly trinket. But don't worry, I'll let you keep the Porsche and all the crap you purchased with my credit card." At least that way he wouldn't have to worry about Yami going without all the material possessions he had grown accustomed to.

"Bastard! I don't want…" Yami swallowed hard, forcing down his desire to hurt Seto the way Seto was hurting him. _He doesn't mean it. He's baiting you… don't let him distract you from what you have to do. _"You keep everything. I don't want any of it. But this…" and his fingers tightened around the nameplate, "this is mine. It's important to me."

The taller teen took a step forward. "Is that what you think? It's yours? Please… it was just a meaningless little bauble intended for whomever my boyfriend happened to be, but you aren't my boyfriend any longer. Maybe I want to give it to someone else someday, has that ever occurred to you?"

"What! You're lying! I know you are, because… What are you trying to hide?" Yami said as Seto continued to advance on him. "Why won't you let me in? I can help you with whatever it is that's bothering you, if you'd only…"

For some reason, it made Seto insanely angry that even in the middle of a fight, Yami was trying to look out for him and instead of worrying about himself. Why couldn't he just leave it alone? Why did he always have to sacrifice himself for the good of others! That burning anger propelled Seto forward and caused his hand to shoot out, fingers curling tightly around a slender arm. "Shut up! I don't want your help! Give me that piece of shit or else!" he roared, roughly forcing Yami back a few feet until he hit the wall, his other hand snaking up to grab the buckle at the back of Yami's collar.

"No! Stop it! Seto… Ow, Seto, you're hurting me!" Yami yelled in alarm as he tried to break the brunette's painfully strong grip on his arm. Unable to break the hold, he reached up with his free hand to stop Seto from undoing the buckle, but Seto had already gotten most of it undone and was now yanking hard on the strap to get the metal tongue to disengage from the eyelets punched into the leather. Yami hissed in pain as the metal and leather choked him momentarily, then the entire collar was pulled away, Seto's fingernails raking across his throat in his haste. "Seto!"

"You want to know what I think of all this bullshit? This is exactly what I think!" The young CEO took a step back, threw the collar to the ground, and stomped on it repeatedly with a sock-clad foot.

Yami's breath hitched as he clung to the wall for support, his eyes fixed on the collar. He couldn't believe Seto was doing this… it made no sense! He didn't want this to be the last thing he remembered about his lover. Despite his best efforts, Yami could feel tears starting to well up in his eyes, blurring his vision. "Seto… I…"

Seto glanced up at that miserable sounding voice, shocked to see Yami fighting back tears but at the same time pleased at the though of Yami finally giving up on him and thus saving his own life. But Yami still wasn't completely convinced from the looks of it, so the brunette bent down and retrieved the collar, then made a big show of taking it over to the trashcan and tossing it in with a disgusted curl of his lips. "That… is what I think of us."

"You… but I still…" Yami's face contorted in pain as he gave Seto a stunned look, barely managing to meet his eyes, then turned and hopped awkwardly out of the office without even bothering to retrieve his crutches, his eyes now burning with unshed tears.

Seto remained standing by the trashcan for several more minutes, but when he was sure that Yami was gone, he ran for the nearest bathroom and threw up what little he had eaten until there was nothing left but stomach acid. Even though he knew he had done the right thing, it didn't erase the memory of Yami's beautiful eyes flickering with sadness and uncertainty and perhaps even a hint of fear, the scratches on his neck already turning pink in agitation. How could he have done that? What kind of monster was he?

* * *

TBC 

Author's Notes:   
- Not terribly important, but Seto's new secretary is Kisara, though you'll probably never seen her referred to by her first name. Shiroi, the surname I chose for her, means "white." And for those of you who're following my fic "Role Reversal High," she'll be using the same surname in that story as well.  
- Re: Seto's dream. Taken from "Food for Thought." I just wanted something nice for Seto to look back on, but ironically the scene I chose came right after 1) an argument between Yami and Seto and 2) an injury to Yami's leg. Maybe I just have a thing for that scenario or just maybe… I liked the parallels between these two stories? Depends on how intelligent you think I am wink  
- Re: Yami's collar and Seto's belt. For those of you who haven't read "More Than Words," Seto gave Yami a collar with a nameplate that read SETO on their one-year anniversary. He also got himself a belt that read YAMI on the buckle.  
- I did consider having Seto hit or punch Yami, but I quickly discarded that idea because it would have set a dangerous precedent if Yami forgave him for that. It would be in character for Seto to resort to physical violence I think, but since I strongly believe that any incident of physical abuse is grounds for terminating a relationship, I didn't want to be a hypocrite and say that Yami should stay if Seto beat him. So I pushed it as far as I could without crossing that imaginary line. In real life people, I don't care how much you love your significant other - if they hurt you like this, leave. Don't stick around thinking things will get better, because more often than not, they don't.


	11. Ch 11: The Heart of the Matter

**(Not really) Important A/N:**  
I changed the title of this chapter... originally it was called "Making Progress" and the next chapter was to be "The Heart of the Matter," but... the story took an unexpected turn, so I wanted to use the title here instead. No biggie.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Re: Seto's actions (too many ppl to list) - Glad most people didn't think I pushed it too far. Honestly, I think it would have been IC if Seto had hit Yami, but I so did not want to go there because even if Yami would have forgiven him, I wouldn't have. And I didn't want anyone reading this fic to think that type of behavior was okay under any circumstance.  
- Re: Emotional reactions (Buka, Blade-fairy, Feebeefi) - Hee... makes me happy to know people are getting an emotional rise out of this. I hope I can continue to make readers "feel."  
- Re: Kai-baby/Yami-kins AU (Mishiko) - Wow, that's awesome! And I loved your review, but let me admit to something... I don't really remember what I wrote in previous stories LOL. So it amazed me that you could see progressive growth in Yami and Seto's relationship, but I think because I have started seeing Seto and Yami in terms of my AU for almost everything, I can keep them more or less consistent in behavior even as they both grow closer.  
- Re: Kisara's surname (Misashi) - I had a feeling Shiroi wasn't an actual surname but I did find it listed on a site of Japanese family names... perhaps it was a poor translation to romanji by whoever compiled the list. Oh well /... Let's just accept that I have Domino situated in a place which is physically Japan and otherwise not anything like Japan at all, and we'll pretend that it's an actual surname :D, and... I obviously don't know my Japanese...

**

* * *

**

Aftershocks

**Ch. 11: The Heart of the Matter**

* * *

"Nii-sama! Nii-sama, what the hell did you do!? Come on, I know you're in there! Nii-sama!!" Mokuba continued to yell and pound on the bathroom door despite the fact that Seto had locked himself in and refused to respond. But at least they knew for certain that he was in there since he had flushed the toilet shortly after Mokuba began screaming at him.

"Forget it Mokuba, he's not coming out."

The black-haired teen sighed and looked over his shoulder at Noa. "This is stupid. He's acting like a brat. Do you hear me, Seto? A BRAT!" He kicked the door in frustration.

Noa could only shrug. Neither one of them had expected to see come home and see Yami sitting curled up in a miserable little ball on the sofa, fighting to keep himself from crying, his crutches nowhere in sight. How he had managed to make it all the way downstairs on one foot was a mystery. He wouldn't tell either one of them what had happened, but once they convinced him to unfurl himself Mokuba had noticed that his ever-present collar was missing and that his neck was scratched. Those two things, plus the fact that Seto's sportscar was parked under the porte-cochere, could only mean that something _really_ bad had happened, and Seto was likely the one responsible for it. Which was probably why he had barricaded himself into the bathroom across from his office.

"Aw, forget it. Let's go find Yami's crutches at least and bring them down to him," Mokuba snarled in a very Seto-like manner, stalking into the office with Noa close behind. "They're probably in here… yup."

The green-haired teen watched as his brother picked up the crutches, then took a glance around the room, catching sight of a familiar object in the trashcan. "So what do you think really happened? They got in a fight and what, Seto tore the collar off of Yami's neck? Yami pulled it off himself 'cause he got mad?" He fished the collar out of the trash and dangled it from his fingers for Mokuba to see.

"Onii-chan…" Well, that at least confirmed that the altercation between Seto and Yami had involved the collar somehow. "I know Yami wouldn't have thrown that away no matter how bad things got, but I can't believe… God, why is Seto acting like such a jerk?!" Mokuba sighed and cast his eyes skyward. "I really don't understand him sometimes. I thought I did, but… no. If this all somehow makes sense to him, I don't want to understand because I never want to think like that."

"Mokuba, you don't really mean that."

"But he's driving everyone nuts and he doesn't even realize it!"

"Maybe you should tell him that."

"Maybe. But I'm tired of talking to a door. Come on, Yami needs these back." He held up the crutches a little and nodded his head at the collar. "Seto can't stay in the bathroom the rest of his life, so once he comes out I'm going to make him talk, and that's that."

* * *

Perhaps Seto couldn't remain in the bathroom the rest of his life, but he certainly was doing an admirable job of holing himself up in there. Afternoon passed and became evening, and he still wouldn't open the door. It got to the point that they all started worrying that Seto might do something rash, so Mokuba began checking on his big brother every fifteen minutes or so, telling him to knock on the door to prove that he was alive or else they were going to break the door down. At least Seto complied with that reasonable request, though he didn't touch the stew and coffee that Mokuba left by the door.

As the night rolled on and the entire household sat in tense silence, Yami gave up on waiting for something to happen and went to bed, though he did take the precaution of moving into one of the downstairs guestrooms in case Seto still felt like throwing a fit when he left the bathroom. Mokuba watched as the ex-spirit left the room, then announced loudly, "This truly, utterly… sucks!"

Noa yawned and glanced at the clock. "Are you really planning on staying up?"

"Yup. All night if that's what it takes."

"Mokuba, seriously… we should do shifts. If you stay up the entire night you'll never make it to school tomorrow, and then Nii-sama will probably flip out on you too."

Gray eyes focused on the green-haired teen. "You and I both know that I'm the only person who can get him to talk, and even then, it's like pulling teeth. So if he sees you waiting for him in the hallway, he's going to be mad PLUS he won't want to talk."

"Geez, give me some credit. I'd wake you up of course."

Mokuba shook his head. "Nah. I figure even if I fall asleep it'd be right in the doorway, then he'd have to trip over my body to get out of the bathroom. So either way, I'll be the first thing he sees when he steps out."

Noa sighed and leaned back on the sofa, lacing his fingers over his stomach. "I hate this. Reminds me of when my mother and father would get into a squabble, and he'd slap her and call her a… uh… er, nevermind."

Mokuba cocked an eyebrow and gave his brother an assessing look. "No, go on. I don't mind."

"But…"

"Onii-chan, it's okay. Besides, look at Seto… he never wants to talk about anything and now he's hiding in the bathroom. Do you want to be 19 and spending your night in sitting in a dark… wait, he's almost 20 isn't he?" Mokuba took a look at the clock and realized that it was seconds past midnight, then sucked in a deep breath. "He'll be 20 tomorrow… oh God, I feel terrible! I've totally forgotten about his birthday!"

"Maybe we should bake Yami into a cake," Noa said with a snort. "He doesn't deserve much else."

"Maybe we should bake them both into a cake. With handcuffs so they can't escape. Argggghhh! Man, this is SUCH a mess. We've GOT to get them back together before his birthday, or I'll… I'll… I'll be really pissed off! And I'll probably cry, and it'll all be Seto's fault, and I think I'm about to cry right now…" The younger teen blinked rapidly, finally resorting to rubbing at his eyes to get rid of any evidence of tears.

Noa frowned and quickly got up to find a box of tissues. "Here, Mokuba… "

The black-haired teen grabbed a tissue with a slight nod of appreciation. "I think I should go back upstairs and resume my watch."

"Okay. But really… don't stay up waiting for him to come out. At least take a pillow and a blanket if you're really planning on sleeping there all night." Mokuba looked a bit skeptical at that, so Noa quickly threw in, "Please. Do it for me."

"Oh… all right."

* * *

Seto wasn't sure how long he had been sitting on the bathroom floor, though he knew it was night, and pretty late at that. His back and neck hurt from the position he had assumed on the tiled floor and his butt had gone numb a long time ago. But that discomfort paled in comparison to what he was feeling inside. He thought he'd feel relieved once he drove Yami away, but he didn't, not that he had done it for the purpose of making himself feel better. But shouldn't there have been… something? He felt so uneasy about the whole situation. Did he really do the right thing?

It was stupid, second-guessing himself like that. He attributed it to his own weakness, his selfish desire to make himself happy, Yami be damned. But it didn't matter anymore. What was done was done. It wasn't like Yami would want to be with him after he lost his temper and attacked him. It was inexcusable, what he had done. Why didn't Yami just accept that it was over and leave on his own? It never should have ended like that. The entire scene played over and over again in his mind in slow motion. He had grabbed Yami's arm hard enough to bruise, thrown him up against the wall while he teetered precariously on one foot, nearly strangled him trying to get the buckle of the collar undone, and then clawed his throat while removing the collar by the nameplate. Yami had cried out in protest, crimson eyes flickering in hurt and accusation. He had to hate him by now, even though Seto hadn't meant to do any of those things in the first place… he only wanted to get the collar because he thought that would be enough to convince Yami to leave, but somehow had gotten angry and frustrated and taken things too far. It was going to be Death-T all over again if Yami stuck around and he couldn't rein in that temper of his.

Now that made him a bit curious. Yami did leave, didn't he? Maybe Mokuba had said something about it, but honestly, he had been a little too preoccupied at the time to listen to all of his little brother's rants. And Mokuba must have gone to bed already since he hadn't heard a knock on the door in a while. But he really needed to know. Yami should have left, but the former Pharaoh could be amazingly stubborn at times. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced Yami was still around, and against his will he could feel his ire rising at the mere thought of it.

_I need to make absolutely sure he's gone. I bet he's all curled up in my bed right now, the crazy fucker. Why won't he just leave?_ Seto wondered as he opened the door slowly.

As he went to take a step forward, he thought he heard the faint sound of breathing and looked down just in time to keep himself from stepping on Mokuba's hair. The younger teen was stretched out across the doorway, cocooned within a thick comforter. The sight was comforting and sad at the same time… Seto was glad that his little brother chose to wait for him, but to see him resorting to sleeping in the hallway…

With a soft sigh, the brunette bent down and scooped his brother up easily, carrying him to his shared bedroom and carefully depositing him on the far bed. Mokuba didn't stir at all the entire time. Seto wished he could sleep like that. All he was able to do nowadays was pass out in exhaustion, and even that wasn't enough to assure him of a dreamless sleep.

Speaking of sleep, it sure sounded good, even if he had to deal with the stress of having Yami in bed with him. So after making sure that Mokuba was tucked in, he wandered back into his bedroom, turning on the lights, knowing that…

_Yami? _He wasn't in the bed. In fact, the sheets looked undisturbed but in his shock, Seto stupidly lifted the covers as if Yami could somehow flatten himself out enough to be undetectable under the blankets. _Where did he… Did he leave?_

The sense of relief that he thought he'd feel at Yami's departure never came. Instead, he felt a terrible pain that sent his heart racing until his chest ached from the pounding. He was confused. Wasn't this what he had hoped for? Wasn't that why… _Oh God, where is he?!_ He suddenly had visions of Yami getting run over by a car, being buried under debris from another quake, falling off a cliff, all sorts of ridiculous things. _No, no no no… I have to find him!_

In about as much of a panic as he had ever been in, the brunette went running back to his brothers' room. "Mokuba, Noa, wake up!" he yelled as he burst into the room. When the two younger teens didn't immediately respond, he began flicking the lights on and off.

"Huh? Wha…" Noa's eyelids fluttered momentarily before he slammed them shut again. "Seto, stop playing with the lights! You trying to make me have a seizure or something?" Seto snorted in displeasure and left the lights turned on.

Mokuba groaned and blearily blinked at the clock. "Seto? It's 3:00 in the morning…" The black-haired teen frowned and sat up slowly, rubbing at his eyes. "How did I get in… oh. Well, I'm glad you're out of the bathroom at least."

"Where the fuck is Yami?!" Seto demanded.

Noa scowled, upset at Seto's general rudeness and the fact that he had been awakened so abruptly. "He's…"

"Why don't you just mind link him and find out?" Mokuba said, his yawn softening his tone. But he squinted irritably at his brother to make up for it.

"Don't start with me, Mokuba!" The initial panic had faded away and was replaced by vexation. He wanted a response and he wanted it _now. _The young CEO folded his arms across his chest and straightened himself up to his full height, as if that would make an impact on Mokuba.

"Why are you being so pissy? It was a reasonable suggestion."

"Mokuba!"

Sensing an argument brewing, Noa frowned deeply and looked over at Mokuba, then at Seto, then back at Mokuba again before mumbling, "I'm so out of here. I'm going to sleep downstairs." Although he really intended to go and wake Yami up, he wasn't going to reveal the fact that the crimson-eyed teen was asleep in a guest bedroom. So Noa slowly got up and slunk past Seto, careful to not bump against him on the way out lest he set off the alpha male in his brother.

As soon as the green-haired teen was gone, Seto stomped over to Mokuba's bed. "Well? Where the hell is he?"

_Being younger and shorter sucks_, Mokuba thought, forgetting that Yami had no problems dealing with both those things, but then he got the idea of standing on top of his bed to give him a lot of added height. Looking down at his brother for once, he simply asked, "Why do you want to know? He's not your _boyfriend_, remember?"

"I'm in no mood to argue with you about this! Just…"

Mokuba pulled away as Seto's hand closed around his arm. "Why should I tell you? You're the one who broke it off with him! So why do you care where he's at right now?"

"I can't believe you're taking his side on this!" Seto yelled in exasperation.

"What? There's no… I can't believe there's even a side to take!" Mokuba yelled back. He took a deep, shaky breath and lowered the volume of his voice. "Honestly… Nii-sama, what's happened here? I don't get it… Yami saves my life in an earthquake and in the process gets a concussion and a broken leg, and all of a sudden you decide he's not good enough for you or something?"

Seto flushed at the accusation. "Of course not. I'm grateful that he… Look, it's not that simple; you wouldn't understand…"

"Try me." The younger teen placed a light hand on his brother's shoulder, keeping it there even as Seto tried to shrug him off. "Nii-sama... obviously something is really bothering you, and you keep trying to hold it in, which isn't working. You're a wreck. Yami's a wreck. And since you won't talk to Yami about it, well, I guess that leaves me. So start talking."

Seto automatically did the exact opposite, clamming up as Mokuba wrapped his arms around him. But Mokuba, knowing that his brother would do just that, refused to give in. They had given Seto enough space to work things out on his own and he had only managed to make things worse, so now it was time for a new approach.

"All right, if you won't talk, I know that you'll at least listen." The black-haired teen got off the bed and sat down on the edge of it, motioning for the brunette to sit down next to him. After a moment, Seto grudgingly sat, so Mokuba plowed ahead. "Although I haven't figured out all your reasons, I've been thinking about it a lot. I do know that you're trying to push Yami away even though you don't actually want him to leave."

Seto stiffened slightly at the statement, which Mokuba interpreted as a sign of agreement. "And I know you didn't mean to hurt him this afternoon," he continued. Seto looked at his little brother in alarm. "Oh, he's not badly hurt or anything. He has some scratches on his neck and his arm will probably bruise a little, but that's it. Nothing as bad as the broken leg or anything. Speaking of which, I guess it was pretty scary when that earthquake hit and you found out that both Yami and I were missing. And then to have both of us land in the hospital… Maybe you started wondering about the what-ifs and your thoughts went too far, and you started worrying about what you would do if Yami… well, you know."

Perhaps it was because he was physically and emotionally worn out, but Seto's jaw muscles loosened and he mumbled, "I don't want him to die."

"'Course not. I was really worried about him too. But earthquakes happen. It wasn't like we could have known that the building was going to fall apart on us. And Yami did his best to protect me; you can't fault him for that."

"No, never."

"That's good. Because it'd be dumb if you somehow blamed him for that. So let's see… you don't want Yami to leave, but yet you're trying to make him leave. And I'm not certain why. Yami's a great boyfriend for you. Noa and I like him a lot. He's smart, funny, loyal, takes good care of all of us, is apparently hot in bed," and at that Seto gave Mokuba a disapproving look, "puts up with your shi… uh, _crap_, and brings out the best in you. Heck, I don't think you could ever find someone that'd be a better match."

"Hn."

_Wow, we're getting close to making actual conversation! _"But I know you aren't looking for someone better. Yami is the only one you want and…" _Dare I say it?_ Mokuba took a deep breath, looked his brother in the eye, and plunged in. "He loves you. And you love him."

Seto's eyes darkened while at the same time, the color began draining from his face. "I don't love him," he quickly snapped. _Don't say that, you don't know what you're saying._

"Oh, come on. Of course you do. You love him as much as you love me."

"I don't…" Seto caught himself and shook his head. He was about to blurt out something which he would regret, but hopefully Mokuba hadn't picked up on…

The black-haired teen turned his head slightly. "Nii-sama?"

Seto swallowed harshly. "I didn't mean… never mind. Forget it."

Mokuba thought quickly. "I know you love me, even if you don't say it. Same with Yami. And he understands and accepts that. Love, it's… well, that's just a word. It'd be nice if you could say it, I mean, I uh… well, I'd like to hear it, but we already know. In heart, thought and action, you've shown us that you love us a hundred times over."

The young CEO quickly pulled away, every muscle in his body tightening up as if he were preparing for a physical confrontation. He had no idea where Mokuba had pulled all this stuff from, but he had to grudgingly admit, his brother was good at reading him. And he hated it.

Mokuba looked Seto over, noting the tense way he held himself, the small distance he had put between them as telling as a flashing neon sign that read, _Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about this. _"Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong about Yami, and I'll drop the whole thing." _I swear Seto, if you tell me I'm wrong…_

The brunette dipped his head so that his already long bangs shielded his eyes completely. "You're… not… it's just that…"

Mokuba adopted his most innocent look, put a plaintive tone into his voice, and whispered, "Please, Nii-sama… I need to know. Why aren't you with Yami anymore? What changed?"

Seto's only response was the sound of his ragged breathing, but Mokuba sat patiently and didn't push him, and gradually the older teen lifted his chin just enough so that he could glance at his brother, who tried to convince him of his sincerity with wide, attentive eyes.

"I don't want him to die," Seto finally responded in a very low voice, repeating what he had said earlier. "I didn't mean to hurt him… I didn't want to, but…"

"I know."

Seto inhaled sharply, then blurted out, "No, you don't. If he stays, he'll die. Because of me."

Mokuba remained silent for a moment, piecing together what he knew about his brother with the little bits of information he had so far revealed. Then, very cautiously, he said, "When Tou-san died in his car accident… that wasn't something anyone could have prevented. The police report said that he hit a patch of water on the freeway and lost control." Seto's nostrils flared at that, so Mokuba went on, seeing that he was on the right track. " Sometimes bad things just happen. Doesn't mean someone's to blame for it. But if you really wanted to look to place the blame on someone, well… it's my fault that our mother..."

"It's not!" Seto insisted, suddenly angry. "Don't ever say that!"

Mokuba looked up, his face pale. "You should hate me for it. But you don't. Why do you blame yourself for things you couldn't have prevented? Do you blame yourself for Jii-san's heart attack too? Or our aunt's lung cancer?" Seto looked away once again, suddenly subdued. "None of that was your fault! He had a pre-existing condition, and she was a heavy smoker, you told me that yourself! So how could you feel responsible for what happened to them?"

"Mm." The brunette gave the slightest shrug of his shoulders. He didn't know how to explain it. When it came to such things, words didn't seem adequate.

"Does this mean that you're afraid that something will happen to me as well?"

"I've nearly lost you already, Mokuba." He didn't elaborate, but Mokuba could feel the unspoken words hanging heavily in the air. _Death-T. Duelist Kingdom. Noa's virtual world._

It was the opening Mokuba had been looking for, but he wasn't sure if he ought to take advantage of it. An angry Seto was a more talkative one, but was he really willing to pry open that can of worms? If he didn't, would Seto ever open up? Finally, he made his decision and brought up the taboo topic. "Death-T?"

Mokuba could see every muscle trembling in his brother's body as his face reddened in anger, then he exploded like a bomb. "Fuck, Mokuba! That… you should have never been involved in the first place! How could you want to stay with me after that?"

"Because… I love you. And you would have forgiven me if our roles were reversed."

"You would never have made that mistake. You would not have become consumed like that. You would have found another way. You should have hated me." Seto fell silent at that, but his mind continued to whirl with a torrent of thoughts. _It should have never gotten so out of control, but I couldn't resist pushing you away. I wanted to convince myself that you didn't matter, so much so that you nearly died at my hands. But you wouldn't leave my side, no matter what I did. Why?_

"I could never hate you, Nii-sama, no matter what. Did you honestly expect me to? Did you think I would give up on you... leave you?" Mokuba asked, his question hitting uncomfortably close to the heart of Seto's thoughts.

The young CEO grunted, though his anger was slowly beginning to dissipate at the passion in Mokuba's voice. "I would have given you money. I would have given you the house, or bought whatever else you may have wanted. I could have bought you a new life."

"You think those things matter to me? I wouldn't have wanted any of that! Money can't buy happiness, Nii-sama. You're living proof of that. But you know what does make me happy? Being with you is what makes me happy... that's why I would never leave you, no matter what!"

Seto stared at his brother, shaken. Mokuba sounded so sure of himself. Did he even realize what it was that he was promising? _I made a vow to to Kaa-san before you were born that I'd always take care of you. She told me that I'd never be lonely thanks to you. I believed her. But then she died, and everyone else followed… and I realized what a lie that was. I was destined to be alone. But I had promised to take care of you, and I had to make sure you found a proper home to grow up in... It didn't matter what happened to me in the end. It still doesn't..._

"Nii-sama. I meant what I said. I won't leave you, ever, if that's what you want."

The older teen broke out of his reverie and considered his brother's quiet declaration, then softly replied with uncharacteristic openness, "You will someday, Mokuba. You're growing up. And the best outcome I could ever hope for is that you'd stay until you were 18, and then you'd go to college abroad. Find a nice girl, marry, settle down. I didn't plan on you coming back to me. Maybe there shouldn't be anything to come back to."

Tears sprang into Mokuba's eyes and immediately started rolling down his cheeks. "Nii-sama! What are you saying?!"

"I can't hate you, Mokuba. I can't even not care. But for your sake…"

"For my sake you BETTER not think of doing anything stupid! I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you! I can't believe… I mean, I always knew you were unhappy. But I never realized…" Mokuba tried to wipe his face off with his pajama sleeve, groaning at his own behavior. He was so tired of crying, but he couldn't stop himself. "Nii-sama, no one deserves to go through life alone. That's the future you saw for yourself, wasn't it? But then Yami came along and…" and his throat went dry at the thought, "I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me, or for Yami. What will it take to make you realize that? You always worry about everyone else so much that you don't realize… your concerns are ours as well. Yami has shown you a better future, a different one than that which you imagined. But you're so worried about what might be that you're unable to see what is, and what could be. What you have with Yami is so special and unique... neither of you would be complete without the other. Does it matter if you both live to 105 if you're both miserable? What kind of life would that be?"

"Yami could easily find someone else. He doesn't need someone fucked up like me." _He'll find someone better. He deserves someone better._

"He doesn't WANT anyone else. He's stuck with you through this entire mess because he loves you and wants only you! The worst thing you could do is to make him go on without you, because you know he's not going to go and just hook up with someone else. He's loved you for over 3,000 years. Are you going to make him wait another three millennia before you'll acknowledge that you love him too?"

Seto looked confused, wavering in his stance. Had he been wrong? Was this really a chance to make up for their past lives that had been destroyed? Had he been looking at it from the wrong angle, thinking of his recollections as a warning of doom, instead of the heralding of a second chance?

"You said you don't want Yami to die; you want him to live. But do you just want him alive, or do you want him to actually enjoy living? I know you'll protect him, so I'm not worried about his safety, but there's so much more to life than just… breathing. He loves you so much. And I know you love him too, regardless of what you claim."

_I… do, don't I? But… _"It might not matter, after what I've done. I've treated him like shit. It could have been Death-T all over again."

"No. You would have stopped yourself long before things got that bad. You don't make mistakes twice, Nii-sama."

Seto shook his head. He couldn't believe he was actually considering Mokuba's rationale, but it certainly was far more appealing than his take on things. "He won't forgive me. I can't even forgive myself," he mumbled, his heart sinking at the thought.

"Baby, I already have," said a deep voice from the doorway. Both Mokuba and Seto looked up to see a tired looking Yami on his crutches, standing next to Noa.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:   
- Originally Seto was a lot more straightforward and talkative about his thoughts, but that's not really his style, is it? So I had to rewrite this a few times. Ugh, not fun. Thanks to Nenya and Dragon for comments, critiques and advice on this... your help was invaluable :D  
- Re: title of this chapter. As with one of my previous chapters, I sorta wanted to include the lyrics of Don Henley's "The Heart of the Matter" into this chapter, but without an obvious place to put them, I decided to just toss the relevant lines here in the A/Ns (deleted for ffnet... they are in the original version of the fic posted on my site). But I kept the title anyways.


	12. Ch 12: Three Little Words

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.

Responses to questions posed by reviewers thus far:  
- Can't post these on ffnet anymore, so please see my profile for a link to my LJ for those from this point on. Thanks!

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* * *

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**Ch. 12: Three Little Words**

* * *

Seto stared at Yami for a moment in sheer disbelief. _He's still here…_ he thought, relief flooding through him at the mere sight of the shorter duelist standing there. Without even thinking about it, he rose to his feet and began approaching Yami cautiously, almost afraid that he was just an illusion. But the body that he wrapped his arms around felt warm and solid, and best of all, it embraced him back with one arm.

"You're here," was all the brunette could think of saying. He wasn't even sure if he ought to be hugging Yami, but for some reason he just wasn't able to convince himself to let go. And then Yami's words finally sunk into his mind. _Did he… say what I think he said? He couldn't have… _

Feeling quite uncertain about everything, Seto finally released Yami and took a few steps back, trying to figure out what had just happened. He had been talking to Mokuba, who had only managed to confuse him with talk about blame and forgiveness and other things. And then Yami, with his always-impeccable timing, walked in and forgave him for something that he didn't deserve to be forgiven for. In response to his thoughts, Seto's eyes unconsciously traced a path down Yami's neck, zeroing in on the raised pink lines that reproached him for his loss of control.

Seto sighed. There was no way that Yami had forgiven him; he must have heard wrong. All he could do now was to face whatever Yami threw at him. With reluctance, he lifted his gaze to meet those familiar crimson eyes, bracing himself to see the burning anger and accusation that he knew would be there, but instead, there was acceptance. Affection. And no small amount of exhaustion as well.

Meanwhile, Mokuba looked back and forth between the two older teens. They weren't really saying or doing anything, but he had a gut feeling that the worst was over. He believed in the undeniable strength of Yami's love for Seto and knew that Seto's unacknowledged affection for Yami was just as strong. He just hadn't admitted it to himself yet. But at least Mokuba had done his part in breaking of Seto out of the mindset that he had trapped himself in, and that in and of itself was one hell of an accomplishment. The black-haired teen couldn't help but be a bit proud of himself.

"Pssssst!"

Mokuba's brows beetled in confusion until he realized that it was just Noa trying to get his attention. "What?" he mouthed silently at the green-haired teen.

"Sleep. Downstairs."

"Ah, okay." Mokuba cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, then announced, "You two stay here and… talk. And I don't mean body language, at least not in my bed. Noa and I have school in like three hours, so we want to go back to sleep. We'll be downstairs, okay?" He began following Noa out the door.

The ex-spirit frowned slightly in disapproval. "But this is your room…" he called after them.

"Yami, we're gone," Noa's voice replied. "And it doesn't matter. Good night!"

Seto watched his brothers leave, then sighed again, turning his head and dropping his chin a little to peer at Yami through the thick fall of his bangs. Was Yami just putting on a pleasant face for Mokuba and Noa's sakes? Was he going to get upset now that they were out of the room? But Yami's expression didn't sour… in fact, if anything, his eyes were even softer than before.

"Seto…" Yami whispered, taking a hopping step towards the taller duelist.

The brunette shook his head and backed away, much to Yami's dismay. "So, you were eavesdropping then?" he ended up pointing out. It was a relatively safe thing to say even if it had almost nothing to do with what he was thinking.

Yami cocked his head in thought. "Sorry. I didn't mean to, but…" He gave a slight shrug with one shoulder. "We should talk."

Seto paled a little. Didn't he already do enough talking for one night? He wasn't even sure if he was ready for a discussion yet, his thoughts spinning chaotically in all directions.

"Sit down, Seto. You look like you're going to collapse."

"You too," Seto said, sitting down, looking the former Pharaoh over. Yami's hair was mussed up, spikes going wildly in all directions, and his eyelids were a bit puffy, but even so, the young billionaire couldn't help but drink in the image, as if it were some sort of mirage. _I can't believe he said he forgives me. I didn't ask for it. I don't deserve it._

"Mmm," agreed Yami, hobbling the few extra feet to Noa's bed, propping the crutches against the nightstand before gracelessly dropping onto the bed, flopping down on the mattress in exhaustion. The bed felt really good and he was so tired and sore, plus the medication in his body demanded that he just shut his eyes and sleep, but he didn't want to give in, not yet. "Kai-baby…"

The young CEO simply grunted, though he couldn't help but feel a pleasant twinge at the way Yami mumbled that ridiculous nickname.

"If I fall asleep at any point, I'm sorry. Meds."

"Hn." _So he probably doesn't even remember what he said earlier._

Yami took a breath and casually said, "That doesn't mean I don't know what I'm saying. I do forgive you for what you did, even if you didn't ask for it. Even if you think you don't deserve it." Seto shifted nervously at that. "Mokuba was right, you know."

That cryptic remark got Seto's attention. "What?" There were so many things that Mokuba had been right about…

Crimson eyes focused sharply on startled blue ones. "You don't deserve to go through life alone. None of those things that happened were your fault. I wish… I wish I knew you felt so strongly about that earlier, but even when we were linked," and Yami swallowed, still feeling the loss of that bond acutely, "even then, you always kept so many things to yourself. I respected your desire for privacy; you know I always will. I respected the fact that you didn't want to talk about a lot of things, that there were aspects of yourself that you did not wish to share, that there were things you didn't think you were ready to hear, but now I think… perhaps I was doing you a disservice."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Seto said defensively without even thinking about it, though he knew that Yami would be able to see right through his lie.

"I should have said it a long time ago. Seto, I…"

"Don't. Just… not right now, Yami. Please." At Yami's doubtful look, Seto added wearily, "I'm still… I'm not sure that Mokuba was right about that. And if he was wrong, and you say it…"

"He wasn't wrong. In your heart, you know that."

"Then… promise me… you won't die." _You don't know what it would do to me if that happened… God, Yami…_

Yami sighed and reached out for one of Seto's hands, which felt cold and clammy to the touch. "I… can't do that," Yami began. Seto looked so stricken that he quickly added, "I can't see the future, Seto. But I'll promise you this - I'll make every effort to take care of myself and stay alive."

"Then lie to me, damn it! I'll believe you…"

"… I can't lie to you."

"You're just going to do it again, aren't you?" Seto asked bitterly, but he was too wiped out to truly sound angry about it. Yami blinked in confusion. "Some crazy fucker like Dartz will threaten the world again, and you'll decide it's your job to save everyone and end up sealing your soul in the Puzzle once more."

"What?"

"I saw it," Seto admitted, frowning deeply. "When you were… after the quake, I had a… vision. Dream. Recollection. Whatever you want to call it."

Yami considered that revelation carefully, then began testing out his mind link to Seto, hoping to be let in but not really expecting it. He couldn't help it; he had always been curious about his long-forgotten past, and even if something horrible had happened… _It must have been really awful and he… did he have to watch it happen? Oh, Seto… _It made sense though. If Seto's previous incarnation had watched him somehow get trapped in the Puzzle, the sense of loss he must have felt… and then seeing Yami injured and hospitalized… _I wish he'd share the memory with me, not for my sake, but his. I don't want him to suffer alone. This is hurting him more than he realizes._

Seto was hard pressed to ignore the prodding at the back of his mind, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't worth the gamble to let Yami him back in. The vision of the Pharaoh's soulless body crumpling to the ground still haunted him, the thought that he had been trapped, alone, for 3,000 years, until he lost his mind and his memories…

"Please," Yami said, his eyes searching over Seto's face. "Let me in. Even if you don't want me to see what happened, I feel incomplete without our link. I miss feeling your presence so much."

Seto just nodded. He couldn't deny that. It almost hurt, going around without the familiar tickle of Yami's consciousness in the back of his mind. He felt so empty and alone without it. But if he let Yami back in, would he try to steal a glimpse of those scenes from the past? They would be more harmful than helpful… there was nothing positive about anything that had happened, but still… _He said he respected my privacy. He won't push for more than I'm willing to give. He's never done that to me._

As if they still were mentally linked, Yami added, "I won't push for more than what you're willing to share with me, you know that. Besides… I think… you must miss me too."

Seto wondered if he were that easy to read. How did Mokuba and Yami always seem to know what was on his mind? But he knew Yami's word was good; he wouldn't try to pry, and Seto did really, really miss being able to _feel _Yami's presence, and if Yami already knew what he was thinking anyways,then there really wasn't a logical reason to keep him out. So with that decision made, Seto simply threw his end of the link wide open… and gasped at the thoughts and sensations that hit him full force.

There was a phantom thrumming of physical discomfort which centered on his back and lower right leg, but those were dull in comparison to the emotional thunderstorm that poured down on him. Yami's confusion and disorientation at waking up alone in the hospital, his shock and sadness over the way Seto had treated him, the way he had told him to get out, it was over, that he _hated_ him… There were tears of pain there, along with several fleeting moments of doubt. But at the same time, Seto could feel Yami's overwhelming concern for him, colored by trust and devotion and… dare he admit it? Yes, an all-consuming love as well. It had always been there, but Seto had always turned away from it, skirting it as if it were a deadly trap. But now… he was almost fascinated by it…

Just as Seto was sucked in by the reconnection of their bond, Yami too was pulled in without warning. At first, he felt like he was drowning in waves of exhaustion and misery. He had no idea how Seto could function under such self-inflicted corporeal and emotional punishment. But when he learned to stop fighting against the tide of thought, when he allowed the unhappiness and shame to drag him down and peered behind the walls of self-denial, he could feel the power of Seto's heart, and he knew he made the right decision. Seto had done what he had to try and protect him in his own bizarre way, even though he had been devastated by his own course of action. He had tried to sacrifice his own happiness for Yami, just as Mokuba had said. That selfless love… how could Seto deny the existence of something that burned so fiercely? Did he fear himself so much that he was blinded to the truth? It made Yami angry for a second, but then that morphed into a sort of determination. He wanted Seto to see himself the way that he saw him. The way Mokuba saw him. Whatever it took, he wanted to make that happen.

That determination was enough to allow Yami to draw himself out of the stream of thought until he was mostly back in his own mind so that he could start clamping down on the link, bringing the flow of emotions and thought down to a manageable level. But he had to smile even as Seto blinked rapidly, trying to reorient himself. It was nice being warm and whole again.

"God…" the brunette finally moaned, frowning slightly as he realized his mistake. _I… shouldn't have done that, huh?_

_Probably not. But it's okay, I'm sort of glad that you did. Not that I should need confirmation of how you feel about me, but… it was nice seeing it._

The faintest amount of pink colored Seto's face. After weeks of denying himself the pleasure of allowing Yami into his mind, the light buzz of the younger teen's mental voice felt a little strange, as did the idea of baring himself to anyone to that degree. But it was "nice," for lack of a better word. _I missed you._

_I know._

_I'll never shut you out like that again._

Yami felt the cold shudder that rippled through his boyfriend at that thought, and responded with warm affection. _I know you won't. You need it as much as I do._

Seto wasn't going to acknowledge that even though he knew Yami spoke the truth. However, he couldn't help but finally reply with, _But you need it because you worry about me. I only want it because I'm selfish. _

_Selfish? How so? You're one of the most selfless people I know. Why do you always think so badly of yourself?_

_I keep making bad decisions. I have a short fuse and a bad temper. I don't know how to handle it when you want… to tell me how you feel._

_You're human. You're allowed to make mistakes. You're allowed to react…_

_Yami, I attacked you!_

_And I forgave you._

Seto huffed, frustrated. Yami was so damned stubborn! _I won't do it again. You did nothing to deserve it. And… I really am sorry._

_I know. And it won't happen again because you don't make mistakes twice, Seto. Besides, I understand… even though you made a decision which ended up hurting both of us, you were trying your hardest to do the right thing. And that's what matters to me. By the Nile, Baby… you were willing to sacrifice yourself to protect me!_

There was that word again. _Better that I be the sacrifice. I couldn't let you do that again._

Yami grew silent for a moment, then came back on. _I won't ask you to show me, if you really think I shouldn't see it. But… I want to help ease your mind, and I can tell, its got one hell of a heavy burden weighing it down right now. If there was something bad that happened in the past, well, it's not something that we can change anyways. But if we ignore the past, pretend it never happened… how are we to learn from our mistakes?_

Seto mulled that over. He knew it made sense logically, and he could feel Yami's desire to understand, to help, and… he did say that he wouldn't ever shut Yami out again, hadn't he? Lying down, he wrapped his arms around the younger duelist, and asked, _Are you sure?_

Yami kissed him. _Of course. _But as Seto gradually unveiled that corner of his mind, Yami's own buried memories suddenly surfaced and mingled with Seto's, flooding the former Pharaoh's mind with images from the past.

_

* * *

_

_A familiar voice cried out suddenly, and though he couldn't quite understand what was said, Yami wrenched his eyes open, wondering if he were hearing things. Surely his High Priest, his lover, hadn't come to stop him, had he? He had been vehemently opposed to Yami's decision to seal away the shadowy forces that threatened to consume Egypt by using himself as bait to draw the darkness away. Yami remembered that he had even taken the precaution of changing the time and location of the secret ceremony, but… he really was there, guards all over him, on his knees even as his eyes blazed with defiance, rage, fear, hurt… _

_Yami wanted to go to him. Wanted to reassure him that this was the right decision. Wanted to hold him one more time, run his fingers through his hair, whisper that he was his beloved. He could feel his lips parting to tell him, "I love you," but before he could utter those words one final time, he caught sight of his elderly advisor's horrified eyes and realized… it was too late for that. The ceremony had to be completed!_

_His eyes shut in dismay. He had to finish the ceremony; it was his duty. But he couldn't concentrate. He should have been praying for the safety of his people, for the prosperity of his country, for the gods to banish the darkness that lingered over Egypt like a shroud of death. But his mind could only think of a pair of brilliant blue eyes and memories of warm summer days and a hot mouth enveloping his. I'm sorry, I love you, and… I wish I could be with you forever, he thought as his mouth moved on its own accord and uttered that last syllable. Immediately the pain increased tenfold, and he screamed in shock as breath and life were torn from his body as the whole world seemed to explode in a brilliant burst of light._

* * *

Several minutes passed by in near silence, punctuated only by the sounds of breathing. Seto was pretty sure that Yami had passed out from the stress brought on by Seto's recollections and the memories that they in turn had inadvertently dug up, and he was now pissed at himself for giving in to Yami's cajoling. He knew he shouldn't have let him in… he had only managed to hurt him again. He couldn't seem to do anything but bring Yami more pain. But... he had given his word and had every intention of keeping it, so he kept the connection alive and stayed in bed with his boyfriend, gently smoothing down the blonde bangs that framed Yami's face, running his thumb over Yami's cheekbone...

Finally Yami's breath hitched, and his eyes fluttered open. "Seto…?" he called out hoarsely.

"I'm right here." He couldn't have left even if he had wanted to, and it hurt to feel the tiny flicker of doubt that flared up in Yami's waking thoughts. He'd make it up to his lover somehow, even if it took the rest of his life.

The crimson-eyed teen took a few more moments to compose himself. It was weird, remembering the way his soul had been torn from his body, seeing it from his own point of view and Seto's as well. At least it looked like he had been successful in shielding Seto from the worst of the painful physical sensations, but emotionally…

Seto… no, not Seto, but the priest he once was… so wounded that a year couldn't begin to help him recover from his loss, so broken up that he took a dagger to his own heart…

Yami didn't trust his voice to hold, a lump forming in his throat. _You… killed yourself._

… _Yes._ Seto could still feel the sensation of the blade cutting into his chest.

_I'm… sorry. I won't ever leave your side again._

Seto slid both of his arms back around Yami's body, trying to convey with his actions what he could barely admit to himself. _Don't apologize. I was the one who messed up this time. I'll never give you reason to doubt me ever again, and I'll never shut you out again…_ He sighed and nuzzled the nest of spiky tri-colored hair under his chin. _God, Yami… how'd you do it? _

_Hmm?_

_You know what I'm talking about. How'd you... find a way to... I thought... it really shouldn't have happened..._

Yami smiled against Seto's shoulder. _You were so busy ensuring that the door to your heart was locked and barricaded shut that you forgot to check the windows._

Seto couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. _That's cheesy. So you're into breaking and entering…? You're a regular criminal, Yami-kins._

Yami chuckled, his mental laughter rumbling in the back of Seto's mind. _I missed that too._

_It's just a stupid nickname._

_It is. But you came up with it, Kai-baby._

_Hn._

Yami smiled mysteriously and tilted his head back as he mulled over something. Finally, his mind made up, he whispered aloud, "... Seto?"

For some reason, every hair in the brunette's body stood on end, as if an electrical spark had suddenly jumped across the room. Unable to think of anything more eloquent to say, he only managed a weak, "Hm?"

The crimson-eyed teen kept his eyes trained on his boyfriend's. "... I love you."

Seto's throat went dry, but he didn't break eye contact as he simply said, "I... you didn't have to say it. I already knew."

Yami shrugged and snuggled up against Seto once again, stroking his arm until he began relaxing against him. "I know. But... I wanted to."

They just lay in companionable silence after that, simply enjoying being next to each other, physically and mentally together once again, their thoughts intertwining harmoniously around the bond they had forged. But as the minutes slowly ticked by, Seto could feel his boyfriend's breathing evening out, his mental pulses becoming sluggish, his body pressing heavily against Seto's. Well, Yami had warned him that he was apt to fall asleep at any time… and it really was for the best. He needed the rest, and as for Seto… he needed to time to think. Where were they headed? Was there really a better future out there to strive for? Hell, did it even matter? As long as he had Yami by his side…

"Good night," the brunette whispered into the air. "I… love you too."

Against Seto's arm, Yami's lips curved up in the barest of smiles.

* * *

TBC

Author's Notes:  
- This chapter is the reason for how this entire story came to be:  
_Dragon:_ and speaking of Seto... is he EVER going to say the "L" word?  
_me:_ hell, I don't even say the L word - why, you want him to do it? I've been dancing around it for a long while now  
_Dragon:_ yeah, i would just like to see him do it just once. I know saying it all the time is not a seto thing. Yami would but seto wouldn't. but it would be nice to see him say it just once even if Yami knows it, everyone likes to hear it at least once in a blue moon  
_me:_ if I do it... well, I'd have to time it pretty carefully. They're not just going to be driving down the road and Seto suddenly decides to say it. I'd need something to instigate it. I sorta want something bad (not horrible, just bad) to happen so that Seto really gets it through his thick skull just how much Yami means to him  
_Dragon:_ ooh like something happening to Yami?  
_me:_ yeah  
_Dragon:_ ooh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
_me:_ uh oh LOL  
_me:_ please don't say car accident or allergic reaction  
_Dragon:_ me like!!!!!!!!!! a bit of angst!!


	13. Ch 13: Introspection

Spoilers: none  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.  
Summary: Seto takes some time to do some thinking.

* * *

**Aftershocks**

**Ch. 13: Introspection**

* * *

Considering how little Seto had been sleeping, it was rather odd that now that things were slowly settling back into some semblance of normalcy, he still couldn't manage to fall asleep. But then again, he really wasn't complaining. If he were asleep, he wouldn't be able to enjoy the way Yami's body rested against his, gently pressing into him with each breath. And he needed time to think anyways, without Yami's influence, without Mokuba's interference. 

Yami had said that he loved him. And he had returned the sentiment. He had surprised himself by saying it; not that he didn't mean it, but… it wasn't something he had ever imagined himself saying, especially to anyone other than Mokuba. Had he ever even said it to Mokuba? And speaking of Mokuba… Seto was beginning to feel a little guilty about how he had been behaving around his brothers... running into their room in the middle of the night, yelling like some deranged lovesick fool, then kicking them out so that he could lie with Yami in Noa's bed. That was just weird.

So as reluctant as he was to leave Yami's side, for his own peace of mind, he had to check in on his brothers. After planting a half dozen light kisses on the top of Yami's head, he whispered, "I'll be right back," slid himself out from under his lover's body, quietly exited the room, and headed downstairs.

The two younger teens weren't in the first room he checked, but apparently that was where Yami had been planning to spend the night since the sheets had been pulled back on the bed and his poor, abused collar was left sitting on the nightstand next to a carafe of water. He picked up the collar and ran his fingers over the titanium nameplate. At least it wasn't damaged, though… he was really ashamed of the way he had behaved. Yami deserved so much better, and yet he still wanted him. Said that he missed him, loved him, forgave him…

_Damn. _All he could do now was try and be the best boyfriend he could possibly be. What that would entail exactly he wasn't sure, but as long as Yami was happy, that was what mattered.

After slipping the collar into the pocket of his robe, Seto checked the room across the hall from the first one and found Noa and Mokuba curled up in the large bed in the center of the room. In the thin sliver of light coming from the hallway, he could see that they were both obviously asleep with Mokuba on the right side of the bed and Noa flush against his back, one arm loosely draped over the blanket around the black-haired teen's waist. Seto silently slipped out of the room after a moment's consideration and came back with an extra blanket; he figured they must be cold since all of the heat was directed to the second floor at night. As an afterthought, he also switched off the alarm clock next to the bed. With all the time he had spent away from the household as of late, he figured the least he could do was spend a day with the younger teens and hope that they would accept his apologies for his erratic behavior.

Now that he was sure that everything was all right downstairs, he could hardly wait to get back to Yami. Logically he knew the ex-spirit would be slumbering peacefully where he left him and running up the stairs to save himself an extra 15 seconds was only liable to get his neck broken, but he wanted to spend every possible second with Yami, so he made a compromise with himself, taking the steps two at a time and swiftly striding to the room.

Sure enough, Yami was still asleep, though he had somehow snatched up the other pillow on the bed and wrapped himself around it, treating it as a substitute for Seto's body. But the sight made Seto smile; there was something about seeing Yami with his guard completely down that riled up his protective instincts. Leaving the lights on, he walked over towards the bed and pulled Yami's collar out of his pocket, placing it on the nightstand where the shorter teen would be sure to see it the next morning. After quickly shedding his robe, he climbed under the covers and removed the squashed pillow from Yami's tight grip. The former Pharaoh mumbled something nonsensical and rolled over as the amused brunette tried to divest him of his red robe, finally revealing a body that was still alluring despite its current injured state.

A little curious and still searching for more reasons to stay up, Seto propped himself up and began cataloging every inch of Yami's body, using all his senses. He ran his fingers through soft spikes of scarlet-tipped black hair, breathing in the slightly bittersweet scent of cinnamon, honey and chocolate mingled with the warm, spicy tones of Yami's signature Farenheit. The fragrance from the cologne was a bit stronger as he drew his attention to the supple skin on the back of Yami's neck, then faded away as his fingertips and lips traced their way slowly down the curve of Yami's spine. He couldn't help but frown at the faint bruising still visible on the lightly tanned expanse of his lover's back, a testament to what Yami had done for Mokuba. But that wasn't the worst of it… Seto winced as he took in the newer bruises on Yami's upper arm, four long marks with a fifth on the underside, the exact shape and size of his fingers. He hadn't thought he had grabbed Yami that hard, but the evidence was right there on his lover's body, just as loud and angry as the scratches on Yami's throat. He had done those terrible things, and Yami had still forgiven him for them? Carefully, he ran the pads of his fingers over the bruises, wishing he had the power to heal instead of hurt. But no matter what he hoped, there wasn't much he could do about it now, so he just silently promised the other teen that he would never lay a hand on him in that manner ever again.

Shaking off his dour thoughts, he shifted his attention to the glorious Blue Eyes White Dragon tattoo which sat prominently on Yami's left shoulder, splaying his fingers over the design as if he could somehow feel the dragon rising up off the smooth skin. The Blue Eyes was his signature card, but… sometimes he thought it suited Yami just as well. The power, the pride, the brilliant radiance as it burst onto the dueling field… that was how he saw Yami. Perhaps those very characteristics had first sparked his attraction to the shorter duelist. But Yami called the Dark Magician his soul card, and while that monster was just as noble and confident as its wielder, it was a creature of darkness, and Yami, despite his name and what he may have been in the past, was no one's shadow, not even Yugi's. Still, he identified with it and called it his, so Seto couldn't resist having that part of him permanently inked onto his skin as well. He supposed that even if Yami and Mokuba hadn't gotten through to him, at least he'd have a permanent reminder of…

No, he didn't want to be thinking about such things. He wasn't alone; Yami swore he would never leave his side again. Mokuba also said he wouldn't leave, if that's what he wanted. And he did believe them, as farfetched and impossible as those promises seemed to be.

With a sigh, he realized that he'd absentmindedly slipped his hand around Yami's waist and was now thumb-stroking his boyfriend's navel, the tips of his fingers brushing lightly against the fly of the black knit silk boxer briefs. Yami was making a sound that could best be described as purring, a faint smile gracing his lips, and as tempting as it was to rouse him for a much-desired tumble, Seto figured the younger teen needed his rest just a bit more. So he reluctantly withdrew his hand, though the naughty thing had a mind of its own and ended up cupping a well-shaped buttcheek instead. Suppressing a smirk at his own behavior, he shifted further down the bed and slid his hand down a nicely muscled thigh before pausing to consider the cast that surrounded Yami's lower right leg. All of Yami's little friends had signed their names and well wishes on it, as if their scribbled smiley faces and hearts could somehow erase the damage done. Seto supposed he should write something as well, though he wasn't sure what he ought to… ah, well, there was always that. Getting out of bed once again, he searched Mokuba's desk until he found a black permanent marker, then slipped back into bed to leave his own indelible message on Yami's cast.

By this point, the young CEO was really starting to feel the effects of his sleep deprivation from the last several days. He hadn't planned on sleeping this particular night either, but under the influence of Yami's dreaming mind, he finally gave in and lay back down, pulling Yami securely into his arms before allowing his eyes to slowly shut…

* * *

"I can't believe I forgot to set the alarm," Mokuba grumbled as he sleepily stumbled towards his bedroom with Noa close behind. 

"I'm telling you, you did set it! I saw you."

"Well, I didn't turn it off. Did you?" Noa responded with a shake of his head. "Oh well, whatever. So we're going to be late..."

"Meh. So… do you think they're still in there, asleep?" Noa asked in a hushed voice as the pair reached the door. "Light's still on."

Mokuba pressed his ear against the door. "I don't hear any screaming, so at least they aren't busy making up on the floor or on your bed." Noa made a face at that. "Hey, I'm not letting them near my bed again, you know that."

"Gee, thanks. Thanks a lot. I'll have to burn my sheets now."

"If we burned everything that… dang. The entire house would have to be rebuilt from the ground up."

The green-haired teen sniggered silently, then got a bit more serious. "But it would be worth it, right?"

"Yeah." Mokuba met his brother's gaze as he began turning the knob on the door. "It'd be totally worth it."

Once the door was open, the two younger teens tiptoed silently into the room, peering cautiously around the corner at the beds. Sure enough, Seto was lying on Noa's bed with his back to the door and in his arms, he cradled a blanket-wrapped lump with black and scarlet spikes. Both Mokuba and Noa grinned broadly at the sight.

"Aww, they're so cute," Noa mouthed.

Mokuba choked as he tried to suppress a laugh, but that muffled sound was enough to wake Seto out of his light doze. The brunette released his lover and rolled over just enough to give his brothers an irritated glare.

"Sorry, Seto," Mokuba whispered unrepentantly. "We just need to grab our stuff for school, 'kay?"

Seto sat up with some effort. "No, you're both taking the day off. I'll call the school later."

Two sets of jaws suddenly dropped. "Woah! Who are you and what have you done with Seto Kaiba?" Noa blurted out.

"Shhh!" Seto held his forefinger up to his lips. "Wake Yami and the deal's off, got that?" Of course, they all knew Yami slept like a log, so there was no danger of Seto changing his mind.

"So what's the deal, Nii-sama?" Mokuba asked, sitting down on his own bed. Not that the thought of skipping yet another day of school didn't thrill him, but it was totally unlike Seto to suggest such a thing.

"I don't know what you're…" Mokuba crossed his arms and frowned in disapproval. "Hn. Fine. I just… I shouldn't have woken you up earlier, and I'm… sorry. I thought… maybe we could all spend the day together, okay?"

Noa bounced up on his toes in his excitement. "Really? Cool!"

"You're taking the day off? Awesome! So we can go back to sleep then?" Mokuba asked, though he was already crawling under the blankets on his bed.

"Guess so," Seto answered casually, though he was pleased to see the positive response to his suggestion. "I'll just take Yami and…"

Noa waved his hand at the brunette. "Nah, don't. You might wake him if you do that. I'll just go back downstairs and sleep there."

"Why bother? It's cold down there and Mokuba's bed is just as big as the ones in the guestrooms, though I suppose he does snore on occasion… But you should be used to that by now, right?"

Again, the younger Kaibas just gawked at Seto, who stared back in confusion. Why were they looking at him like he had grown a second head? Did Mokuba not snore anymore?

"You uh… don't… mm, okay," Mokuba finally mumbled cryptically. Then he glanced up at Noa, who still looked like a deer caught in headlights, big glazed eyes and all. "So, left or right?"

"… What?" Noa gasped.

Mokuba just gave him another odd look. "Left side or right side? Oh never mind, I'll just take the right side then." The black-haired teen scooted all the way over and lifted the covers in invitation.

Seto watched as Noa climbed into Mokuba's bed without further protest, then, satisfied that things were more or less as they should be, slid back down, pulled Yami tightly against his chest, and allowed himself to doze off once more.

* * *

TBC 

Author's Notes:   
- REMINDER: Any replies to reader reviews will be posted on LJ. (link is on my ffnet profile)  
- Re: tattoos. Yami and Seto got inked during "More Than Words." To refresh ppl's memories, each has one BEWD on their shoulder (Yami left, Seto right) which are turned towards each other and form a sort of heart shape. But in front of Seto's dragon, there's a crimson-eyed Dark Magician with staff in one hand and the other hand resting on the dragon in reassurance.  
- What did Seto write on Yami's cast? Duh... it's a surprise.  
- The scene with Seto finding Mokie and Noa in bed was written in my head long before I had an inclination to include Stepshipping in my AU, so… if you thought you saw something when you read that, it really wasn't there. But, at the same time… by the end of the chapter, it most obviously is :)  
- If you need a soundtrack to read this chapter by, Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" kept streaming through my noggin while I was writing. I didn't go as far as to use it for a title, but anyways, here's some of the lyrics (deleted for ffnet... they are in the original version of the fic posted on my site).  
- Yay, one more chapter to go (and an epilogue dealie as well!)


	14. Ch 14: Just Another Birthday

Pairings: Seto + Yami, Noa + Mokuba  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.

**

* * *

Aftershocks**

**Ch. 14: Just Another Birthday**

* * *

It was fairly late in the morning by the time Mokuba _really_ woke up. As he slowly drifted out of the fuzzy landscape of dreams and into awareness, he shifted lazily against the warm weight pressing into his back, smiling to himself as it grunted and pushed back against him.

"Bed hog," Noa muttered in mock irritation.

Ah yes, there was his regular morning greeting. "Am not!"

"Are too. I spend every night clinging on to the edge of the bed, and last night was no exception."

"At least I don't suck up all the blankets like a vacuum cleaner."

"I do not!" Noa paused to look at the arrangement of sheets on the bed. Okay, perhaps the covers were _slightly _skewed in his favor. "If I ever did do such a thing, it's only because I'm trying to keep from falling out of bed."

"Fibber."

"… Snorer!"

"Hmph!" Mokuba rolled over and slowly sat up to face his brother, who was partially sitting up against the headboard with a magazine lying face down on his chest. Evidently he had been awake some time, though he hadn't gotten out of bed. "See, I knew you couldn't deny the fact that you were _lying_." The black-haired teen grinned in triumph, but the smile slowly faded as he remembered all the craziness from the day before. Peering at Noa's now-empty bed, he asked, "Where's Seto and Yami?"

"Dunno. I only woke up about ten minutes ago and they were already gone. Probably off… 'making up.'"

"Well, it sure was nice of them to not just do it right here. I didn't know Seto had that much restraint."

Noa smirked in a very Seto-like fashion. "He doesn't. But Yami apparently does."

* * *

Within a few minutes, both younger teens were up and out of bed and wandering downstairs in search of breakfast. What they were expecting to find was an empty kitchen. What they actually found were Seto and Yami having a one-sided argument over a few slices of toast.

"Baby… stop," Yami complained, trying unsuccessfully to squirm away from the brunette who was draped all over him like a wet blanket, butter knife firmly in hand. "I have a broken leg, not permanent brain damage. I'm capable of putting jam on my own toast."

Seto just ignored his lover's protests and continued to spread strawberry preserves all over the bread, though he was making a bit of a mess since he only had one eye open. He looked like he was three seconds away from falling asleep where he stood. If he really did nod off, he was going to be in trouble since there was no way Yami would be able to keep him upright with just one good leg.

"Uh… good morning?" Mokuba said loudly as Seto began tilting to the right.

Somehow, the older teen managed to remain standing. "Hn..."

"Morning!" Yami replied, turning his head to grace the brothers with a wide grin. Mokuba and Noa both smiled back, more out of relief than anything else. Proudly displaying the collar that was back around his neck where it belonged, Yami was certainly in a good mood, his eyes bright with amusement. "… Seto! What are you… seriously, that's not even toast! You're spreading jam on the napkins again."

"Hn." Seto finally let go of the knife and picked up the plate with one hand while clumsily guiding Yami with the other. Yami ended up using one crutch while shoring Seto up as Mokuba and Noa waited for their brother's inevitable collapse, but Seto miraculously managed to make it to the dinette without dropping the plate or causing Yami to stumble. The younger teens let out twin sighs of relief as the young CEO finally sank like a rock into his seat of choice and pulled the former Pharaoh into his lap. Putting his chin on Yami's shoulder while the shorter duelist enthusiastically started on his breakfast, he mumbled, "So whaddya… want… do t'day…?"

One of Mokuba's eyebrows went up as he considered the question along Seto's obvious state of exhaustion. _I want you to go get some sleep. _"Mmm… nothing?" He received a weak, squinty glare for that response. "No, really! Uh… oh SHI…oot!"

"What's wrong, Otouto?"

Mokuba leaned over and snagged Noa's sleeve. "When was our English assignment for Nakamura due?" he whispered harshly in his brother's ear.

Noa scrunched up his face in thought, then frowned when he realized what day it was. "Tomorrow."

_Well, it's official. I'm gonna fail. _"Man, I hate homework," Mokuba grumbled. "So… I guess that's what I'll be doing today."

"Me too," said Noa.

Yami gave them both an understanding smile. "Well then, I suppose we could go out and have a nice dinner tonight after you're done with your homework; how's that sound? And maybe catch a movie afterwards?"

"Sure, sounds good!" Mokuba chirped.

"Mmmkay…" Seto droned, shutting his eyes.

"You really should go to bed if you're tired, Seto," Noa remarked.

"Hnnn…"

Mokuba shook his head at his big brother's obstinance, but he knew that Seto wasn't going to go anywhere until Yami was done eating, though the crimson-eyed teen was starting to chew at a faster pace, obviously realizing the same thing. But he still couldn't resist making the attempt anyways. "I agree… you need to get some sleep, Nii-sama. And now that things are back to normal…"

"And you're not being an ass…" Noa added.

Yami snickered. "Speaking of ass, you guys should see what Seto wrote on my cast!" He leaned back just a little to get his right leg out from under the table and triumphantly planted it on the polished surface with a bit of effort. "There you go!"

Mokuba took one look at the bold, black letters and accompanying illustration, and began sniggering. "When did he write that? Last night?"

"Guess so."

Noa's laughter joined Mokuba's. Seto had written "I'm sorry, I'm an ass" in block letters down the left side of the cast, winding the message between existing signatures, and next to the word "ass" was a stick figure of a rather portly donkey. "Oh God… well, if he's an ass, why'd he draw a donkey instead of a butt, huh?"

"That's a donkey? I thought it was a rabbit!" Yami joked, pointing out the extremely large ears on the caricature.

"Nnh?" The young billionaire stirred, but didn't bother opening his eyes. "… Sorry. Was an ass… to both you… too…" He couldn't quite elaborate on it in his current state, but he really did want his brothers to know that he appreciated what they had done for Yami. "'N… love you, Mokubaaa… n' Noaa… too…" he blurted out after a moment's pause.

Noa just gasped and turned to look at Mokuba.

The black-haired teen froze for a moment in disbelief, then the corners of his mouth turned up in a soft smile. It didn't even matter if Seto was fully aware of what he had just said because if he said it he meant it, and if it took complete exhaustion for him to allow his guard down enough to express his inner feelings, then Mokuba was grateful for that in a way. _Oh… I think I'm going to cry. I can't believe… _"I love you too, Nii-sama."

"…'Kay."

Yami just gave a soft mental chuckle as he shoved the remaining portion of toast in his mouth, chewing vigorously. It was cute that Seto had just said that, and it was something that definitely needed to be said… but since he wasn't sure how coherent the brunette was, he'd have to remember Mokuba's reaction for him, and share it with him later on. _Okay, sleepyhead, I'm done eating… Let's go back to bed. You really need it._

_Yeah, but… too tired… fer sex, Yaaami…_

_Sex? Huh? I meant bed as in sleep, okay?_

_Surrre…_

* * *

After leisurely finishing their breakfast of cereal, the two younger teens headed back upstairs to get the drudgery of their homework out of the way so that they could enjoy the remainder of their day off. But the English assignment wasn't the only thing that had to be taken care of…

"Well, I guess everything is back to normal. Or whatever passes for normal around here. Which means that in addition to our homework from hell, we need to figure out what to do about Seto's birthday. Oh! And I guess it'd be a good idea to contact everyone on our list as well. Did we have anyone scheduled for today?" Mokuba asked.

Noa quickly checked the calendar on his PDA. "Jou and Honda at 5:30 PM at Kaiba Corp. We should call them and tell them it's off."

"Aw, Jou's going to be disappointed." Mokuba flipped out his phone and began dialing. "I still can't believe Yugi actually kicked Nii-sama in the nuts though. I bet that Jou would've liked to do the… Oh, hey, Jou! It's Mokuba. No no… actually… Yami and my brother made up. Yeah, I figured you'd hear it from Yugi first, but isn't that great?! No, you can't kick his ass just for the hell of it. Well, he took the day off anyways, so if you show up… yeah. Okay, I'll tell him that. But anyways… thanks again for volunteering! Okay, bye!" The black-haired teen rolled his eyes and ended the call.

"Let me guess… he wanted to tell Seto that if he ever tried to break up with Yami again, he was going to break his face." Mokuba nodded and Noa sighed, putting down the PDA. "So let's see… my word is fortuitous. This is the dumbest assignment... Ah hell… should we do homework first or call up the rest of the people on the list?"

"Magnanimous!" Mokuba blurted out. He was really hating Nakamura at the moment… how the hell was he supposed to illustrate that concept anyways? "Crap! Uh… I guess we really ought to call up the people who were going to fly in and then cancel their flight reservations. Who all did we have coming in anyways?"

"Valon, Amelda and Rafael were supposed to fly in on Saturday. Rishid and Ishizu on the Tuesday after that. And…" Noa checked the schedule again, "Pegasus was on standby for that Friday."

"That's a lot of ass kicking. I guess we overcompensated."

"Nah. Only Rishid and Rafael were planning to kick his ass I think."

"Didn't Valon want to join in? I bet he was planning to have his personal walking wall of muscle hold Seto down for that."

"Personal walking wall of muscle?" the green-haired teen echoed. "Rafael?"

"Oh yeah, you've never seen him in person, have you? Yeah, the pictures don't do him justice. He's muscles on top of muscles. Yami is about as big as his arm."

"How… _fortuitous_ for Seto to have made up with Yami before that happened then." Noa smirked and began writing up an email to contact the volunteers in the "Talk Some Sense into Seto and Failing That, Kick His Ass" program and spread the good news.

Mokuba rolled his eyes at his brother's back. "That was so cheesy. It's _magnanimous_ of me to not throw something at you for that."

"That truly is _fortuitous._ Ow." A balled-up piece of paper bounced off the back of his head.

"I'm feeling _magnanimous_, or else there would have been a rock wrapped up in that piece of paper. Hmm… actually, I think I have an idea for my assignment. Wouldn't you say that Yami…"

"Dibs on Yami!" Noa cried out.

"What? No way!" the black-haired teen protested.

"Yes way! I called dibs on him three weeks ago, remember? I was going to have him draw cards in class?"

Mokuba blew Noa a raspberry, then reached for his digital camera. He didn't know why this particular idea hadn't struck him earlier considering that with all the craziness around the house, the answer had been there all along. "I hope Mr. Nakamura gives you an F, because when I get finished with _my_ project, I'm gonna blow you out of the water."

"Oh yeah? Whatcha planning to take a picture of?"

"Hehehe, it's a secret," Mokuba gloated. "Be back in a sec." Now all he had to do was sneak into Seto and Yami's room, hope they were asleep, and snap a few quick shots. Of course, if Seto ever found out about what he was doing, he'd ground him for it, but then again, Mokuba was already grounded forever and ever anyways, so that was just an empty threat as far as he was concerned. Besides, Seto _did _want him to graduate high school, right? And a picture of Yami would be a perfect centerpiece for his display - if anyone was big hearted, generous and forgiving, it had to be the former Pharaoh with the way he dealt with Seto. Who else would have put up with all that crap while nursing a broken leg?

Several minutes later, Mokuba was stealthily sneaking out of Seto's bedroom with a half dozen pictures in hand. Luckily both older teens had been asleep just as he had hoped, which allowed him to take his time angling for the best shots. But as Mokuba walked back to his shared bedroom, flipping through previews of the pictures, he couldn't help but be touched by what he saw. Yami was flopped on top of Seto, a peaceful smile gracing his face, looking completely and utterly blissed out. And Seto had one arm wrapped around Yami's shoulders as if he had fallen asleep mid-caress, plus the dumbest grin on his face. Seto usually only grinned like that after a bout of marathon sex, or if he were just really, really happy about something, like… sex. At least there weren't toys littered all over the place this time since they had apparently fallen asleep without doing anything weird. It was really embarrassing that one time when he had tripped over a… well, whatever it was…

Mokuba made a face at the direction his thoughts had wandered, shaking his head in silent amusement. He wondered how many other kids had to put up with an overly sexually active older sibling who had no qualms about doing it on the stairs, in, on and around every car they owned, in _his_ bed…

_Ewww. Okay, I can handle the rest, but they're banned from screwing in my bed ever again, _he decided as he opened the door to his room.

Noa leaned back in his chair to eye his brother, curious as to what exactly Mokuba was planning. "Well? You get the shots you were hoping for?"

"Yeah, I think so." The younger teen handed the camera to his brother. "Actually, now I'm not sure if I want to use those at all. I mean, I like them a lot, but they're almost too good for the assignment, don't you think?"

"Hmm. Wow, these are good. But they're… well, too _personal_. Do you really want the rest of the class to see these?"

Mokuba scrunched up his nose in dismay as he took the camera back. "No… that's sorta what I was thinking. It's selfish, isn't it? I mean, almost no one gets to see Nii-sama and Yami for who they really are, but at the same time, I don't really _want _anyone else to get to know them that way. Well, Yugi-tachi know, but… I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"I understand. And I kinda feel the same way. I think you should save those pics for your album instead."

A sigh. "Yeah. But that means I'm back to square one."

"Guess so… but it doesn't mean that your idea doesn't have merit. Just find a different way to do your presentation. It's worth it, isn't it?"

_Getting a decent grade in English? I don't care about that. _Mokuba glanced back down at the preview screen on his camera, at a pair of genuine smiles captured through the magic of technology. _But getting Seto and Yami back together and finally seeing that smile on Nii-sama's face again? _"Yeah… yeah, it is."

* * *

OWARI

Author's Notes:   
- Just wanna say thanks to everyone who followed this fic. None of my other stories have gotten near the reception this one got, so it's really encouraging for me to find out that I can do angst and not completely suck at it. Huge thank you and love ya's to: Dragon (for previewing this all the way through and filling my head with tons of ideas) and Nenya (for listening to my endless, droning rambles) and to everyone who left reviews.  
- Guess I couldn't wait on the Stepshipping. But don't worry, for those of you who are wondering, "Oh my God, are they actually _together_ together?" let me just say, "Yes, however they're only 14 and they aren't doing ANYTHING with each other like that! Perverts!" :p  
- Yes, as always, there will be a follow-up fic which will be called "Aftermath." It won't be posted on ffnet (due to rating) so keep an eye on PP or my site for it.  
- It's funny that the span of this story took me to the day before Seto's official birthday (Oct. 25th) since it wasn't planned out that way. I knew the fic would cover a three week period and realized after it started that I was going to miss Seto's b-day by exactly one day, but I'm happy it ended up working out regardless since I really didn't want to turn this into a birthday fic anyways. So Seto will hit the big 2-0 in my ficverse with Yami at his side. But I'm not going to write a separate fic about Seto's b-day (the sequel will take place the following day), so use your imaginations as to what might occur (and if you think that sex would be involved, you're probably right!) So... I guess the title is misleading, but... whatevah. I was trying to take the story full circle and wrapping it back around to the topics covered in the first chapter.


End file.
